That Bounty Hunter on Ord Mantell
by AilciA
Summary: The old Ord Mantell story, but different. We learn about Han's family and past, we see action and angst, the strong friendship growing between the fab four, and a whole load of that rather-aggressive banter we all love so much.
1. Have you seen Captain BigHead?

That Bounty Hunter on Ord Mantell....  
**********  
  
Princess Leia Organa was in a bad mood. Her *former* good friend, General Carlist Rieeken had just informed her that they were exeedingly short of supplies for the new Rebel base they were transfering to under the surface of Hoth, and she would have to enlist the help of a certain smuggler to get her to the contacts they needed. She sighed gustily. She couldn't tell, but she had thought there was an almost impercepterble smile tugging at the corners of the General's lips, and she was almost certain she had heard snickers from officers around them as her ex-patron had told her the unfortunate facts. "Go and ask him, I'm sure he'd be glad to help... you," Rieekan had grinned at the time, an almost evil glint in his eyes.  
  
"Traitor," Leia had muttered dangerously, realising he had sold her out for entertainment and moral of the troops and himself, and he'd chuckled. But apparently he was quite serious about needing that particular person's help, so here she was, making her way towards the Millenium Falcon, ready to spit fire at whoever stood in her way.  
  
An orange movement across the hangar caught her eye and she saw Luke back from his tech flight, walking across the galley in his bright X-wing flight pants and top, removing his bulky helmet. He sensed her and turned, nodded, then, despite the heavy glove he was still wearing, gave her the thumbs up and a stupid, gleeful grin, widening his big blue eyes idiotically so that he made her laugh in spite of himself. She pouted and gestured in a manner that was quite against all princess decorum and continued to storm up the ramp into the waiting hunk of metal.  
**********  
  
"Chewie?" Leia called out experimentally. A growl drifted up towards her from somewhere below and she glanced down, startled to see the Wookiee's huge shaggy head looking up at her from between the pipes and electrical things that made up one of the Falcon's many engines. Something had obviously gone bust in the old piece of junk Chewbacca and his best friend called a ship... again. "Have you seen Captain Big-Head?"  
  
Chewie bared his sharp teeth in a grin, though he sounded angry, '''No, your Highness. The bas'ekin'ill was supposed to be helping me, but he left some time ago in search of a suitible and worthy enough hydrospanner for his 'works of genius' and I haven't seen him since. Try out the back - he'll have gotten sidetracked again. When you find him, though, either send him straight to me, or warn him that I'll be coming to fetch him whether he likes it or not.'''  
  
Leia chuckled at the general tone of the statement. Chewbacca and the captain had been friends for a great length of time, but they went through spells where they drove each other up the wall. And the past few days had been one of those rocky patches. Though it was plainly obvious to all, whether they knew the pair well or were meeting them for the first time, that the Wookiee and the Corellian had a special kind of bond between them, both extremely protective and loving of the other - either when they were pretending they didn't like one another all that much or not. The most worrying thing for Leia was that they seemed to have developed each other's unique characteristics, absorbing one another's personalities into their souls. Thus, they were regularly as bad as each other, causing trouble left, right and centre. Though the princess actually liked one of them, and there were no prizes for guessing which.  
  
"Will do," she said, saluting and turning, and headed for the deeper, darker parts of the ship, smiling again as she heard a loud thump and a curse grumbled from the irritated Wookiee beneath the deckplates.  
**********  
  
"Nobody knows it, but you've got a secret smile,  
and you use it only for me..." Secret Smile - Semisonic  
**********  
  
When she got to the smuggler's quarters, she took a deep breath and steeled herself before she went in; this was going to be hard; she had never asked the smuggler for help before, hell - the had never asked any smuggler for help before, and she just knew this one was going to be as smug as he could about it. ~He's gonna bring it up all the time and go on and on and on...~ So, because she was thinking this, she was therefore completely unprepared for the sight that greeted her when she entered the cabin.  
  
Han Solo was curled up on his bed, on his side, fast asleep.  
  
Leia smiled to herself; she didn't usually catch the overly-confident and smart-arsed pirate unawares like this - he was usually so guarded all the time, so wary and suspicious of everyone and everything. Leia had come to the conclusion long ago that many nasty things must have happened to him earlier in his rather colourful life to make him that way, Chewie certainly hinted so - and surely no one could be born in any world so suspicious? She had also vowed to herself that one day, if she didn't kill him first, she would have to ask him about them. And she would hope not to bring up any bad memories.  
  
Leia gazed down at Han's face, marvelling at how young he looked in sleep, how innocent. ~This is stupid~ she thought to herself, ~the man has had more experiences in the couple of years he's got on you than you've had in your whole life!~ Despite this, though, she thought he looked, for all the galaxy, like a young boy, exhausted from a day at school, napping on a couch. She'd never seen him look so vulnerable, so open.  
  
He lay on his right side, tilted towards her with his face upturned. His long, lean, muscular legs were drawn up to his chest, though he still had his scuffed, black-leather spacer boots on. His right arm was wrapped around his neck and the other hand was at rest on the pillow, beside his head.  
  
The Alderaanii felt rather silly, now, seeing him like this; she'd always imagined that when Han Solo slept, he slept as the infuriatingly smug, confident, swaggering smuggler he always appeared to be when he was awake. Like he'd sprawl all stretched out, legs crossed at his ankles with his hands behind his head, satisfied with himself, somehow. Yet seeing him like this, tidy and scrunched up, hugging himself for reassurance or comfort, pehaps - it raised some very interesting questions about who he really was and just how much he gave away to the galaxy about his real self, the one underneath all that arrogance. ~I know absolutely nothing about him~ Leia realised suddenly ~After three years!~  
  
The princess tilted her head to one side as she regarded the handsome captain. Even though Leia hated to admit it (and would never even dream about doing so in front of Solo himself), the Corellian was extremely attractive. Though Kest knew he did nothing to enhance the few pleasant qualities he had. In fact, Leia reckoned he must actually try his best to be as unattractive as possible, both in personality and appearance - just to be awkward and thow people off his scent! Now, though, when he was at rest, there was no denying his natural, rugged good-looks.  
  
The Corellian's normaly expressionate face was now completely relaxed. In the dim light of the corridor of the Falcon behind Leia, the lines of tension, laughter, worry and anger that regularly decorated his exotic, star-tanned face were completely erased, leaving behind a completely open expression. His full lips were parted slightly, and with every deep breath he took, his muscular chest rose, and a stray bang of touseled, unruly dark brown hair that had fallen across his face bobbed up and down.  
  
Leia reached forward, cautious of him, and tenderly brushed the strand of surprisingly soft hair back out of his closed eyes. She found herself longing to see Han's eyes open and bright; they were extremely intriguing and completely gorgeous, even *she* had to admit to that, and she knew she was not alone in her opinion, having overheard on quite a few occaisions discussions between the female pilots of not only Han's eyes. ~He must've 'conquered' nearly half the females of the Rebellion...'~ she thought bitterly. Though her anger was shortlived as she thought of his eyes once more.  
  
The orbs were not one colour alone, nor were they two, they changed. As wierd as it sounded, Solo's eyes reflected his moods. Liquid-brown one moment, sea-green the next, a rich gold, then steel-grey. They were not quite Oceannii eyes - as they held brown and gold tints that Oceannii eyes were completely without - but, by stars, they were close.Usually they were dark with anger, dull with pain and gaurded or bright with laughter, pensive or with an intelligent sparkle, then glintingly mischevious and mocking. But occaisionally, Leia had caught glimpses of other emotions. Emotions she, had she not witnessed them appearing in the man's passionate glance, would not have thought Han Solo, the infamously cold-hearted mercenary smuggler, was capable of. Though she knew not how best to describe them, nor where to begin.  
  
A soft grunt escaped from the back of the said smuggler's throat as he stirred slightly, and Leia glanced down. She couldn't help but focus on his mouth; she knew as well as everyone else in the Rebellion that there was a dazzling set of ivories behind those, now slack, lips. The ones he liked to show off at inoppertune moments, but that stopped her in her tracks. That bloody lopsided grin that infuriated her, but made her secretly smile at the same time. It was as if...  
  
'''HAN!!!!''' Leia jumped about a foot in the air as she heard the Wookie's tremendous roar resonate throughout the ship. Han yelped and, startled, sat bolt upright in his bunk, instantly awake, but not so instantly aware. He searched frantically around the cabin with well-practised eyes, trying to find the sign of danger. The Corellian's gold-flecked gaze swept over Leia hastily then suddenly did a double-take as they returned sharply back to her. He blinked as if he were seeing things. ~Oh fodder~ she thought.  
  
"Leia?" he croaked as he rubbed his itchy eyes blearily with the heels of both hands. Boy, if that was her, the little lady sure had a heck of a pair of lungs on her. But the princess wouldn't be in his cabin, really, would she? He shook his head, then looked up at her again. ~No, it's definately her, in the flesh~  
  
Leia stood stock still. What in the name of all things holy was she gonna do now? She was deeply humiliated that she'd been caught spying on him as he slept and was willing to do anything to convince him that that she had been doing otherwise. But he'd know, whatever she said. Nevertheless, the petite Alderaanii bravely opened her mouth, but was thankfully prevented from saying anything by another bone-shuddering roar from Chewbacca.  
  
'''Damned cub! Where in Kessel are you!?! I need that kel'hall'nn hydrospanner, now! You had better not be asleep again, Little One, or I may rip your arms off!''' Though the huge creature had a Life Debt to Han, at that moment, Chewie was perfectly willing to take such drastic measures to ensure his friend didn't yell at him for his supposed incompetence, then go for a catnap in the middle of crucial repairs!  
  
Han sprang hastily to his feet and glared at Leia, "Play along," he ordered.  
  
"Captain Solo," the princess stated tartly, pulling herself up to her full height, yet still not managing to reach quite up past his shoulders, "I will not take orders from *you*. And I certaintly will not be a part of your desperate, and I must say, rather pathetic, plot to avoid some well- deserved punishm..."  
  
"Please, Leia," he implored quietly, raising his eyebrows. His suddenly civil tone and earnest eyes made her stop her rant. Or maybe it was the use of her real name that did it; Han never called her by her actual name seriously. Prefering to call her mockingly by some of her full titles, sometimes slightly distorted, or refer to her simply as 'she' as though Leia weren't standing there right beside him. Either way, she considered quickly and believed the situation might also work to her benefit. If she could only...  
  
'''Small One, I have decided that you *are* asleep, therefore you shall be forced to suffer a long and extremely painful...''' Chewie stopped abruptly in the middle of hurtling through the small cabin door and hurling abuse at his absent friend, but upon seeing that Leia seemed to be in conversation with the rather dazed and rumpled Han, his bright blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
  
Corellian turned to face him cheerfully and a tad too quickly for his liking, flashing his best friend a dazzling smile as he did so, "Hey, fuzzface," he said, a little too brightly, "Whoa! What's got your fur in a knot?"  
  
The Wookiee growled at him dangerously, '''Don't 'fuzzface' me, cub. We both know you were asleep, so don't even try it; I am not in the mood. The only reason I don't beat the smug smile off your face right this minute is that I have no way to prove my suspicions as you have cleverly managed employ the lovely princess to help you out... this time.'''  
  
Leia blushed prettily, she understood very little of Wookeese, but got the general jist, both of the compliment and the reproach.  
  
Han looked stunned, but he quickly regained his usual over-confidence and held up his hands in a 'blast me' sort of way. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry, there - feel better?" he asked, attempting a joke to lighten the mood.  
  
'''I would be *very* careful, cub. Do watch where you're going, won't you? After all, you never know...''' the large Wookiee grinned and trailed off menacingly. He spotted the elusive hydrospanner lying on Han's bedside table and grabbed it. He held the tool just underneath Han's chin, pressed uncomfortably hard against his jugular, so that the Corellian gulped, his prominent adam's apple bobbing, then the Wookiee whirled and left the small cabin, muttering darkly. Leia turned to Han and raised a sweeping dark brow.  
  
"I'm just... gonna... *leave* him for a while. Um, *cool off*, you know..." Solo didn't want the pretty princess to think he was scared of that big furball. He knew Chewie would never knowingly hurt him *that* much, but a Wookiee is a very intimidating creature at the best of times, let alone when it's threatening something... or someone.  
  
"Mmmm-hmmm," Leia nodded sympathetically, looking concerned - ~Sarcasm~ he realised bleakly. "I totally understand, fly-boy." Han opened his mouth to throw some smart comment right back at her, but she continued regardless, completely ignoring his attempts, "anyway, when I was saving your ass, I meant what I said." Han looked confused. She sighed and rolled her dark eyes, "The request about Ord Mantell?"  
  
TBC  
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What do you think? Let me know... If you continue with this story you might be very much interested in its route and outcome. I remind you all once again that this is not an average Ord Mantell story. 


	2. I've just knocked out Han Solo!

A/N: Hello and thankyou to all two of my reviewers for this story, hopefully I shall attract more and keep the ones I have!  
  
S_A_B: I describe Han as handsome because I LOVE Harrison Frod in his younger years - the whole Indiana Jones/Han Solo thing really worked... and I love both sets of those films. Forgive me if I went a tad overboard, I apologise! Redmaggie: I completely agree. It must be said that I am not a great fan of the New Jedi Order books or fics (there is not young Han et Leia exciting action, they're old and more sensible - which I just don't understand!), or fics about Luke and Mara... our gorgeous smuggler and Obi-Wan are my two favourite characters, so all of my stories centre around them... if Leia and Qui-Gon get tagged on for the ride then... so be it!  
  
Cheers to the both of you and I hope you keep reading!  
  
**********  
  
"Look," Captain Solo was saying to his small companion as they walked down a transport corridor of their current base, gesturing wildly with his large hands as he went, " - all's I'm saying is: if she didn't want anyone to see here, then *maybe* she shouldn't have been changing in that particular area..."  
  
Luke Skywalker rolled his sky-blue eyes and shook his head with a small grin. His over-confident friend had managed to barge in on Princess Leia when she had been in the middle of changing from her white Alderaanii senate dress into her flight pants and top, and Han had, once again, managed to insult and humiliate the poor woman. ~What Han was doing in the communal changing area in the first place is anybody's guess~ "Han," Luke gave the pirate his 'patented kid-look', as Han called it, looking wide- eyed right into Solo's own greeny-brown orbs, "She's very upset. I think that, maybe you should clean the air with her before we go to Ord Mantell; it's going to be a long trip and I don't think me or Chewie can handle it... Do it now, there's only a couple more hours to go till lift off and you two need to be on... relatively good terms." ~As Chewbacca might just kill you~ he added silently.  
  
"Oh, fine!" Han snarled and threw up his hands, turning on his heel to stalk off in the other direction. He was still ranting,"But I'm not doing this for you, oh no! I need *peace* when I work on my ship and she'll ruin the whole flight if I don't. It's *not* for you!"  
  
Luke chuckled, knowing very well who Han was doing it for and that Solo had acknowledged his victory. The words echoed in the large corridor as Han continued to yell at Luke from afar - *'I'm not doing this for you'...*  
  
**********  
  
Han strode through a random coridor of the Rebel base, trying to get as far away from the farmboy as he could, stepping around the boxes and vacuu- cases of supplies and equipment partially blocking the way, ready to be sent to Hoth. Han shook his head; damned Rebels couldn't just stick to one planet, could they? They just had to spread themselves about a bit...  
  
Solo stopped abruptly, and his hand drifted instantly towards his blaster; he had heard something. A small noise that usually wouldn't have concerned him, but there, seeing as there was no one else in the corridor, it stopped him. He glanced round suspiciously, seeing only two doorways near him. One, he knew, was a fairly roomy storage cabinet, having secured one of the lovely female X-Wing fighters in there a few weeks back - Han stopped to grin at the memory of the fair-haired lady, and wondered where... was is Arsiana, Arisana?... well, whoever she was, was now.  
  
The other door was the mess hall, though the smuggler knew no one should be in there. The gamma-light-rod-shoved-up-their-arses Rebels didn't go there at all unless it was feeding time. They had 'rules' about that sort of thing, and everyone knew Rebels don't break rules. Han smirked; everyone knew *he* did. Rules didn't bother either him or, evidently, whoever was in there now. Perhaps he would have to mosey on in and check whatever or whoever it was out. ~You never know~ he thought slyly ~it could be Arsania, Arniassa, A-A... Blondie~  
  
**********  
  
The tile-floored mess hall was dark, the windows useless as the Umbardian jungle surrounding the base was so dense, no light could get through to the rainforest's floor, and the beamswitch was over the other side of the room. Han's sharp hazel eyes flickered back and forth trying to figure out where the noise was coming from, and when sweeping the length and width of the hall, they suddenly fell on a huddled shape near the wall to his right. The soft noise came again, and the pirate thought it sounded like crying. Something strange twinged inside Solo and he decided suddenly that he was not going to leave whoever it was alone - he would go see what the problem was. But, he stated firmly in his head, it was purely because he was curious and wanted to know who it was - he wasn't actually bothered about the person who was crying or why. ~I'm not bothered... not at all...~  
  
He silently crept over to the figure, not wanting to make a sound in case they ran before he could see who it was. The Corellian could hardly see anything, his eyes reflexively wide but barely useful. He reached the person, paused hesitantly, then said softly as he laid a hand upon the shaking shoulder, "Hey there, what..." *BAM!* Solo was knocked back by a blow to his mouth and he stumbled and skidding on the polished floortiles in the blackness, a chair got in his way and he upturned it as he fell, his head hitting the steel-crete floor with and audible *CRACK* as he landed in a heap upon the ground, the chair on top.  
  
"What in Kessel do you think you're doing!" Leia Organa yelled at the innert figure of whoever it was who had just scared the Kest out of her. She kicked the chair off the unknown person rather roughly, expecting them to start getting up. When whoever it was didn't move, her furious demeanor changed into one of confusion and shock, and she swiftly dropped to whoever- it-was's side. She felt around in darkness for a face and was horrified when she felt something warm and fluid... blood. "Ska'l, ska'l, ska'l..." she swore, wondering vauguely when she had started to curse in Corellian.  
  
She traced the contours of the unkown face with her small hands, trying to figure out who it might be, as well as scouting for further damage she may have inflicted. There was a large, rather deep cut on the person's temple, but Leia was sure it would be okay with synthspray - maybe a small scar. Whoever it was had a wrinkled forehead, she noted, but nice, longish, silky hair. Long eyelashes and smooth skin, but a long nose that was slightly wonky and disjointed, and bleeding. ~Ooops~ Leia thought, rather guiltily. It was a male, the princess confirmed as she felt the strong jawline, rough with a couple of day's stubble. She discovered that the mystery man had full lips and and cleft in his chin. Wait... no, there was something else on the chin as well, just below the slack bottom lip. It was a slightly raised and puckered line that ran from about the middle of the man's chin to the left, ending with a curious dot. ~That's funny~ she thought ~it's a very...~ Leia's dark eyes widened suddenly as she realised who the mystery man was, and she fell back and away from him in shock. ~I've just knocked out Han Solo!~  
  
Her hands flew to her mouth, and she stared into the darkness where the pirate lay. What had she done? There was no way in the Outer Rim she was gonna let him wake up to find she was the one who had punched him - while he would be extremely embarrassed and it would be well worth it just to see that smug smile wiped off his face, he would also know that she had been crying, and would demand to know why. And she would rather die than willingly admit that *he* had been the one to upset her. When he had found her barely dressed, she had run off, eyes tearing up, before he could say anything.... ~Oh, for all the Jedi on Coruscant. What in Kest am I going to do?~ she thought. Then it came to her, and she did the only thing that seemed logical.  
  
She swiftly left the mess hall without a backwards glance.  
  
**********  
  
(An hour or so later)  
  
"I wish Han would hurry up," Luke complained as he shifted the weight on his feet once again, a touch of a moan colouring his tone. He couldn't help it; he was not by nature a very patient person. They were due to leave for Ord Mantell in less than half a Standard timepart, they were all on board the Millenium Falcon already, and yet the supposed captain of their ship was nowhere to be found.  
  
Leia looked over at him from the hologame-board bench she was sitting in, barely-concealed amusement flashing in her dark eyes as she raised an eyebrow delicately. "Getting more and more like the whiney farmboy-kid Solo sees you as everyday, aren't you, Luke?" she asked, knowing full-well how much that fairly-untrue persona annoyed the Tatooiniann.  
  
Chewie chuckled deeply from near the comm-backup desk, and Luke blushed. He looked down at his boots uncomfortaly, "Yeah... well," he muttered. "I just want to get going, is all."  
  
'''Actually,''' said the Wookiee pensively, '''The cub should be back by now; he always insists on running through certain things when it's merely a routine flight...''' he smiled again, baring his rather ferocious-looking fangs, ''' Of course, sometimes, that is simply not possible.'''  
  
Luke, who knew more Wookeese than Leia - but only just - laughed and turned back to the port-window, scanning the area for their absent captain. But there really was no need as at that moment Han came striding into the ship's main room, calling out and rubbing his large hands together, "Come on then, kids - let's get this show on the road. You just gonna sit there for the whole flight and let me do all the work?"  
  
"We were thinking about it," Leia replied, in an almost friendly tone as she swung her legs down from the seat beside her and stood. She had decided that after the incident in the mess hall, she would give Solo a break for a while... but not too big a one; as she did not wish to arouse suspicions. Carrying on with this ruse, she gazed at the tall smuggler in apparent shock - though it was not all faked as she really hadn't expected the Corellian to be in *quite* such a state. "Stars, Han, what happened to your face?"  
  
This caused Luke and Chewbacca to turn also and stop to stare at their friend's features. "Oh, Han," Luke said quietly, "You look as though you've been wrestling with a Gundark." And indeed, that was exactly what the pirate looked like; a striking purple bruise decorated a diagonal across his mouth, there was dried blood on his shirt and crusting around his nose. A rather deep looking cut ran along one of his temples, another heavy bruise surrounding it, and near the back of the pilot's head, they could see the dark hair matted together with even darker blood. "What happened?"  
  
The Corellian laughed outright and stated, "You know, I'm not really sure, I... it's a long story that doesn't matter." There was no way in Kessel he was going to say he had been bothered enough about someone crying to try and find out what was going on... and had gotten hit in the process. ~Besides~ he thought ~*I* don't really know the whole story~ He avoided Chewie's knowing blue eyes studiously.  
  
He wished he had a holocam for the looks on their faces when he said that; it was priceless... but then Leia snapped out of whatever daze she had been in, shrugged and went, "Oh, well. Nevermind, then," as if aware that he wished to drop the subject and considerate of his feelings.  
  
Han looked at her, extremely suspicious all of a sudden; he had expected her to say something like: 'No doubt you deserved it' or 'Good', something like that - but she was being almost pleasant. He was going to call her out on it, he opened his mouth when he remembered that he hadn't actually been and talked with her like Luke had wanted him to - to say he was sorry. But if she was being nice, and if he was... well, not nice but... *tolerable*, then Skywalker would *think* that everything had been sorted out. ~I do sometimes surprise myself with my own genius~  
  
Instead he said, "Alright, then... let's get to Ord Mantell," and began to work, never noticing that Leia was smiling secretly to herself.  
  
********** TBC  
  
If you *have* read it, then please review... how will I know if I'm doing our favourite characters the justice they deserve? 


	3. Corellians!

A/N: Hello everyone and thanks for sticking with me. Just assuring you all that the story WILL get going, I'm pretty much done with setting characters up now, so bear with me. Hope you enjoy the next instalment!  
  
To new reviewer Jedi-sylvar: it is a complete tie between the two for me. I love both characters, and I love both actors. I love both of them and think their both lush. I can't compare the tow and say which is my favourite because they're so different (that's my excuse, anyway) but they're my favourites and I defend them in every way I see fit!  
  
Enjoy.  
**********  
  
The semi- permanent crew of the Millennium Falcon were a day and a half into their journey - it took quite a while to get to Ord Mantell from the other side of the galaxy - and they were all just wasting time, merely rattling around on the hunk-of-junk, trying to avoid doing serious harm to one another. For they were currently in hyperspace, and there was nothing much to do at all.  
  
"Han!" Leia's angry cry from the east corridor could be heard in the ship's main room by the rest of her companions.  
  
Solo put down whatever gadget it was he was fiddling with heavily, rolled his eyes at his best friends, who grinned, and called back wearily, "Yes, Your Highnessness."  
  
The petite princess came storming into the room, holding a fork, mid-rant. "Why in Kest does that food-hatch of yours only serve your disgusting, over- spiced, alcohol-soaked Corellian meals?! Do you think nothing of your fellows, your passengers, anyone who, by chance, might be travelling on the ship?" she demanded. Leia knew that perhaps, *maybe* she was overreacting, but she was sick and tired of tongue-burningly hot meals... she was fed up with the whole flight, the crew, the Millennium Falcon and most especially, and irkingly-so, it's captain.  
  
Han turned in his seat slowly, placing his arm around the back of the holo- game bench, "Well..." he began deliberately, almost patronisingly, "... I don't know whether you've realised it yet, but, see..." He placed two large hands on his chest, still holding the hydrodriver in one of them. "*I'm* a Corellian. Corellian food, from Corellia, is what I eat - it's what I like, and if you don't like it... there's some energy-sticks in the back you can try out." He turned back to the gadget once more, ignoring her and waving vaguely in the direction of the storeroom. The object he was holding needed his full attention, it was actually the sparkese-plug for the alternate generator, and it was bust. He had to fix it just in case their engines went into failure, which they oh-so-frequently did. ~And people call me an imprudent captain~ he thought smugly, disregarding the fact for a moment that many people called him a lot worse than that rather regularly.  
  
"Well, do you Corellians not know how to cook meals with anything less than 17 kinds of spice and 8 bottles of alcohol in them? It's disgusting!" Leia was determined to push her point home, though her drive had reduced somewhat.  
  
"Maybe to you," Luke shrugged, helping the pilot out for once. "But it's Corellia's homefood... that's what Han's been brought up with, you should leave him be." He noticed Han nodding, yet knew he wasn't really paying that much attention. "Plus, it's specifically made like that - not just for the flavour either - Corellians have a different metabolic rate to most humans, they burn it up faster than any other races, almost immediately in fact, and their homefood is full of energy... it has to be." He grinned, "Technically, Han *needs* his Corellian food..." he trailed off suddenly, noticing for the first time the look Leia was giving him. ~If looks could kill...~  
  
"Yeah," Han muttered, "See." That settled the argument in his mind. And as the royal didn't answer- except to mutter 'Corellians' - he took that as an acknowledgement of his winning. But he couldn't really be sure, as his attention was totally fixed on the fuse-LDT-pod for the speed blinder in the sparkese-plug of the alternate generator, and it needed his full concentration.  
  
The main room went quiet for a few blessed moments, with everyone fixed on their own preoccupations and thoughts; Han with his plug; Luke with an old, dog-eared, highly-advanced engine-repair manual of Han's; Chewie with the Star-Navigator; and Leia with gazing around the room, he interests piqued as she noticed many things all of a sudden that she never had before. One of these was an old holograph, pinned to wall in an overlooked-corner, just above the research-desk surface.  
  
She looked closer and realised that it was Han. The smuggler was smiling faintly in the holo, just a hint of his usual, lop-sided grin, and Leia thought he looked slightly older... but how she couldn't be sure, because that was impossible, wasn't it? ~But then~ she weighed up ~It's hard to tell with Han, you'd never guess he's as young as he actually is...~ So she shrugged off the age for a moment and took another look. Han had his arm slung around a beautiful, positively beautiful Oceannii woman with light brown hair, Leia knew the lady to be from Oceannia as the holo was in colour, so the full extent and wonder of the lady's large eyes was not lost - the princess could practically see the tints and hues changing and swirling before her, but she guessed that was just her imagination running away with her. The woman was smiling almost quizzically, her head tilted on one side, her rouged-red lips drawn up at the corners. There were three children in the picture, all young boys, crowded around the couple - and all were unmistakably Han's children, the features of all three upturned faces exactly how Leia imagined Han's face to have been when he was younger ~That's assuming he *was* ever that young, of course~ The youngest was the child Solo was holding in his other arm, a happy, sparkly-eyed boy of about four, grinning broadly as he nuzzled into the pirate's shoulder, he had fair hair and his mother's eyes; the other child, standing in front of the Oceannii had darker hair and the typical Corellian, golden-brown eyes, and was smiling lopsidedly with his arm wrapped around the thin waist of an older, taller, darker, gangly lad with a serious-looking face and a mixture of his father's eyes and the Oceannii's. The family looked happy, and Leia was at a total loss as to who they were and what connecting they had to Han.  
  
"Han?" she called out experimentally. Something in her tone made Luke look up, large ice-blue eyes curious, and she beckoned him over to look at the holo. The smuggler and Chewbacca glanced up also, and she held the little item up for them to see. "Who're these people?"  
  
"Oh," Han looked over, saw what they were all looking at, shrugged haphazardly, and turned almost at once back to the dilemma of the sparkese- plug. "That's. that's my family." If only he had had a holocam at that precise moment, just to capture the look on Luke and Leia's faces for all eternity, he would have sold his right leg just to get a hold of the holo. it was priceless. The muscles in Luke's jaw seemed to have lost all power to keep it in the normal position for humanoids, his mouth hanging open comically, while Leia seemed to have suddenly found the ability of popping her choco-brown eyes almost completely out of their sockets. Chewie went back to his map, and Han chuckled, "Well, there's no need to act so surprised. what do you think I am?"  
  
"I-I. just never imagined you a-as a family man," Luke stammered, staring at the holo again. It seemed as though his galaxy had been turned upside down.  
  
"Well," Han mumbled, changeling-eyes completely focused on the plug's fuse ~Damned sparkese-plug. I hate it~ he decided. "I'm not much of one. neither was my father; he could never be described as a family man."  
  
"Well, why didn't you tell us?" Leia demanded, looking imploringly up at the narrow, vest-clad back of the frustrating spacer. "Why didn't you say you had a family?"  
  
Han shrugged again, his strong shoulders bobbing, "It just. didn't seem important." he stated earnestly.  
  
Leia practically exploded at that, "Your own wife and children didn't seem important?!" she screamed. "What sort of mercenary monster are you?! Are you so self-centred that you left."  
  
Han whirled, and expression of extreme confusion plastered across his handsome face, "What?! What are you talking about?" He flew up from the holo-game board, the infuriating sparkese-plug forgotten, and strode across to Luke and Leia, his long legs making light work of the distance between them. He grabbed the holo off them, held it up, and jabbed it with a long finger as he spoke. He pointed at the figure Luke and Leia had thought to be him, "That's my da." he indicated the beautiful Oceannii, "and that's my ma." He rolled his eyes and turned away, back to the hologame bench as Leia and Luke let out a collective 'Ohhhh.' He chuckled again, seeing the funny side, "Me? With kids? Are you going soft in the head?"  
  
Luke grinned back, and looked down, "I thought it was a bit strange," he admitted sheepishly, almost as though he were trying to hide behind the blonde curtain of hair that had fallen in front of his face. Chewbacca roared with laughter, amused by the antics of the humans.  
  
Leia was still holding the holo and looking puzzled, he dark, sweeping brows creased in frustration, "But, then." She gave up and switched the question, "Well, which one's you, then?"  
  
Han answered without looking up, "I'm the sullen one in the corner."  
  
"The eldest?"  
  
The pirate nodded and sighed, Chewie looked away for he knew the extent of the smuggler's pain ~And the other two young cubs are going to blunder their way through to it eventually~ he decided. It came sooner than he expected, however.  
  
"Where are they? Do you still talk to them? What happened to them?" Luke fired off his usual volley of questions at a fast rate. Peoples from Tatooinne were, by a rule, inquisitive and curious, and Luke seemed to have been blessed with more than his fair share.  
  
"Dead, no and dead," Han answered without missing a beat. Luke and Leia looked at each other in shock, their glances even betraying a certain guilt of what they had brought up. Han, sensing their unease, slung an arm over the bench again and twisted round to fix them with a piercing gaze. "S'okay. it happened a long time ago. Go on, ask me what I know you want to ask me."  
  
"H-how did they die..?" Leia asked hesitantly in her softest voice, she could feel her perceptions of the space pirate already beginning to ease; she suspected that these were perhaps the horrible things that had happened in Han's early life that made him the way he was now. She came and sat down on the other side of the hologame table, still holding the holograph, and Luke followed her.  
  
"Well." Han mumbled, still fiddling with the fuse-pod, but more as a distraction from the rather intense conversation he knew was about to be had, than from actual necessity; he knew how to fix it, it was now merely a time-filler. "In order. My da used to." he breathed in sharply, "Hit us. and one time he hit my ma particularly hard and she. she fell down some stairs. Jobe-Kaz, my youngest brother, the one in my da's arms, yeah. he was. executed by a whole bunch of these crime-lords that my da was in trouble with." Leia gasped, and Han looked up from, from his riviere, and she was shocked by the pain in his beautiful eyes - she never knew he had lived a life like that, never even imagined.  
  
He continued in a raw monotone, keeping his emotions at bay, trying to talk about his late family as though they were someone else's, and he managed it, to an extent. He shut out all his memories and simply re-told the story of them, "*I* killed my da." He looked up as if challenging them to say something, but the both of them only nodded in understanding, but he could see the beginnings of pity in their eyes, and he could not bear that. So he rushed onwards, "I killed him while he was gambling with the crime-lords that had murdered Jobe-Kaz. I also shot the crime-lords, everyone pretty much in the room at the time."  
  
"And what happened to the other boy?" Luke asked quietly, not willing to cause more pain to his best friend and talk more about his father's death. "The one with his arm around you?"  
  
Han smiled lop-sidedly, but there was no humour to be found in it, "Kain? He. became addicted to glitterstim and spiners and stuff like that, anything he could get his hands on, after. every one died. He. accidentally overdosed one day." He stayed silent for a while, motionless except for his hands as he tweaked the cables surrounding the, now-connected, fuse-pod.  
  
Leia was the first to react, "Oh, Han." she murmured with sympathy, and reached out a comforting hand to place on the smuggler's arm, but Han jerked away almost immediately.  
  
He stood, in an almost panic that someone might pity him, cleared his throat and stated, "Yeah, well... I fixed the plug and now I am going to. fix it to the ship," and with that he strode out of the main room. Luke and Leia were left to deal with their own emotions after hearing about such tragedies.  
  
They looked at each other uneasily, then at Chewie, who was also gazing at them intently, his blue eyes sharp but unreadable. He was the first to speak, and he held up the deck-translator, for he knew they would not be able to understand him otherwise. ' ' ' Cubs, you are the first people he has breathed a word of that to, beside myself. You must be aware that he never, ever speaks of that particular era of his life, and very rarely speaks of his past - you would do best to not push him for more details. I know that you will get them eventually, he will open himself up to you - it has already begun. I see him showing you more and more of his true character with each passing day - and you should be privileged, for not many get to know him as Han-Jaim. In the meantime, do not press him for anything more, it was a large step for him to even tell you he had a family. You cubs understand? ' ' '  
  
They both nodded immediately, understanding completely. But then, as he processed what had been said, Luke piped up, almost utterly bewildered about the strange string of events, "Wait, his actual name is Han-Jaim?"  
  
' ' ' Yes. Han is of Oceannii descent, I believe, and Jaim is utterly Corellian - but the format is Oceannii for sure. However, our friend calls himself Han; Jaim was the name of his father, and Han does not like to be reminded of Jaim Seth Solo too much. ' ' ' He paused as they nodded, and then changed the conversation to a lighter note, ' ' ' You really should have seen your attitudes and appearances, young ones. I believe your expressions are now etched into my memory forever, and quite happily so. ' ' '  
  
Leia pouted and crossed her arms defensively, and Luke grinned sheepishly once more. The ship went back to normal within just a few minutes, though minds were not always on the conversations in hand as the Millennium Falcon neared the planet of Ord Mantell. 


	4. Night, Nerfherder

A/N: Thanks to all reviewers and their comments - I am most especially touched to be the author of the first story Caro has ever reviewed! It's like an honour or something!  
  
I think I was a little obscure about the Oceannii race in my last chapter (Han's mother was one), I - in my incredible short-sightedness - just assumed you all knew what I was talking about... I created the race in my prequel story 'The Unguided One' (Obi-Wan is from Oceannia, you see). If you want the backstory but can't be arsed to read the whole thing, espescially if you hate prequel fics, you can just skim it and it'll jump out at you.  
  
By the way, new characters are appearing in this chapter... and just to help you along with description, if a film was to be made of this story (huh, *likely*) Deacon Kahn would be played by someone like Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keanu Reeves etc etc... someone of that calibre if you know what I mean. And the planet of Ord Mantell would have a climate and look of England, with woodlands and the such - read on, it *does* make sense.  
  
And I say, once again, that action is on it's way.... eventually! Have faith!  
  
********** "Han, we're getting pretty close, now, perhaps you should start preparing to land?" Leia suggested for about the fifth time in as many minutes. Ord Mantell was becoming bigger and bigger in the view-port window, and the princess was getting more than a little nervous about their captain's apparent lack of interest when it came to that fact.  
  
"Look, sister, I'm eating - you think you could you give me some peace for a little while, huh?" Han asked pointedly through a mouthful of Corellian karrtias. Luke had declined Han's offer of sharing the food quite politely, claiming there to be grease oozing off onto the plate. Solo, however, seemed blissfully unaware of this as he tucked in heartily. Corellian karrtias were spicy pancakes filled to bursting with vodkarr-soaked meat, chiliis, peppers, spicy-chilii sauce and enough melted cheese to choke a Nerf... and Han loved them.  
  
"I'm amazed your heart doesn't simply pack up with eating stuff like that all the time," Luke said, in slight awe, watching as Solo ate; his best friend was always eating, and the food was of a standard that, to any other human race, would clog up arteries and stopper veins in a matter of nanoseconds.  
  
"Corellian metabolism, remember?" Han grinned, trying to swallow what looked to be a whole half of a karrtia at once, adam's apple bobbing.  
  
Leia rolled her dark brown eyes, mildly disgusted by the smuggler's feeding- habits, "Don't you think you should start piloting now - we're gonna crash straight into the space-port if you're not careful." Ord Mantell was looking *really* big in the viewport window.  
  
Han waved one hand flippantly at her, the other holding a vat of Corellian spiced-ale, another of Han's favourites. "Nah, don't you worry yourself, sweetheart," he said.  
  
Leia bristled predictably, "I am not 'worrying myself', Solo," she stated tartly, though her cheeks flushed somewhat. "I am merely concerned that if you crash this hunk of junk into the side of the planet, they'll make out the Bill of Damages to the Rebellion, and we'll be marooned on this world without gaining the necessary supplies."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, Your Highnessness," Han muttered dismissively, having eyes only for the plate of rapidly decreasing karrtias. Leia's rose-bud lips drew up into a thin line at that, and she glared at the innocent bulkhead, deciding it was better to vent her anger on to an inanimate object than on the infuriating Corellian currently in her presence.  
  
Chewie chuckled from his corner, idily reading the highly-advanced engine- repair manual Luke had discarded with frustration earlier, claiming it to be 'too hard'. '''Always thinking with your belly, cub,''' he remarked, making Luke laugh and Han scowl good-naturedly at them both.  
  
"Speaking of supplies," Luke said, "You do have your contacts, don't you, Han? They *do* know we're coming, don't they?" He wouldn't put it past the smuggler to take them all the way out here, and then only remember that he hadn't actually organised anything.  
  
That got the pirate's attention, and he smiled confidently, "Come on, kid... you think I'm not always one step ahead?" He ignored Leia's loud and decidedly un-ladylike snort from the view-port window and continued, brightening considerably, "We're gonna stay with some old pals of mine, I haven't seen them in quite some time - they can get us the stuff we need." The typical, lop-sided grin spread from ear-to-ear across his face let Luke know quite how excited he was about seeing his friends again, and this made Luke exceedingly curious.  
  
"Who are they? How do you know them? Why haven't you seen them for a long time? Are they nice? Will I like them...?" Luke fired off a barrage of questions, and only after realised that bad memories might be attatched to the answers, just like they had on the topic of Han's family - a matter which no one had spoken another word about since the incident.  
  
But it seemed that only good memories were connected to Han's friends, and for that, Luke was incredibly relieved. Chewie was grinning as well, also anticipating the reunion, as Han told Luke, "They're Deacon Kahn, who's a carpenter, and Avatella Etan, who's his partner in crime - she's also a part-time chef... and they've been my best friends since as long as I can remember. We used to do runs and deals together," Han said, using his last karrtia to daub at the oozing grease, melted cheese and spilt chilii-sauce decorating his plate, not wanting to waste any of his delicious snack. "They know pretty much everyone in the Nitsuj Njo port, and they're the people to go to if you need anything..." He stuffed the soaked karrtia into his mouth and smirked, "...damned good fun as well, the pair of them."  
  
Leia raised an eyebrow, "Are they married?" She didn't know why this question was important, and felt foolish after asking it, but something made her do it.  
  
Han, however, didn't pick up on the oddity of the question and simply answered it, "Naw... they were *together* together for a time back in the old days, but things just seem to be better when we're best friends - it's less complicated we've discovered."  
  
The Alderaanii picked up on the last bit at once, and she sat a little straighter, "*We've* discovered?" she frowned. Again, she could give no logical reason why this mattered to her... ~Perhaps I'm just curious?~ she reasoned.  
  
She felt a white flash of something she couldn't define when Han's large, colourful eyes took on a reminicent look as he grinned again, a little wickedly, "Yeah, Ava and me were 'together together' for a long time..." He glanced at Luke, who was smiling deviously, and felt the need to defend himself, "You can't *not* want to be with her, kid; she's a top-class sister."  
  
Leia was about a nanosecond away from demanding the pirate to define exactly what a 'top-class sister' was, but she stopped herself just in time, and Han got up and finally got up and decided that *now* was the time he'd start to land the ship. But if the princess was certain about one thing, she was certain she would dislike this Avatella 'top-class sister' Etan - though the reason why escaped her entirely.  
********** "I met him in a crowded room, where people go to drink away their blues...  
He sat me down and so began the story of a charmless man" - Charmless Man, Blur  
**********  
  
The entry ramp for the Millenium Falcon descended gradually and the crew stepped out into the Ord Mantell sunshine.  
  
Perhaps sunshine was too strong a word, it was the light from the sun of the planet, but it was as if it were only there to give sufficient lighting for the inhabitant's of the planet. It was pleasant, but pale and almost indecisive, giving only minimal warmth to the population. Nitsuj Njo, the main space-port of Ord Mantell, was almost peaceful, not at all like the usual space-ports one found in the galaxy, and certainly nothing Luke had ever come across, having only been really aquainted with Mos Eisley on Tatooinne. Nitsuj Njo had a friendly atmosphere, even though it was one of the most well-known spots for contraband spice-dealings and a favourite hideout for many an underground crime-lord - the deals and betrayals, the bartering for one's life and the aggression, the card-games and old grudges, were always concealed under at least a thin visage of innocence and calmness. It was far too complicated and problem-inducing for any authority to rid Nitsuj Njo of the illegal goings-on, and many a high-level federations depended on Ord Mantell as it's main source of contacts and trade.  
  
Ergo, it was handy that the Rebellion now happened to have two contacts in such a place.  
  
"So where are these friends of yours?" Leia asked, squinting into the crowds, though she had no idea of what the two ex-smugglers looked like.  
  
"I don't know," Han muttered, a hand raised to shield his eyes from the glare that bounced off the other speeders and ships in the outside port, as he looked around.  
  
'''There they are!''' Chewie said - with his keen Wookiee eyes, he could see for longer distances than his human companions; he spotted the pair first - and pointed to a distant corner of the port.  
  
Leia's gaze fell upon the couple to who he was pointing, and she almost gasped; they were two of the most beautiful people she had ever laid eyes upon. One was a forbidingly tall, dark-skinned woman of the planet of Globodia - easy to tell as she was completely bald: even female Globods had no hair. Her eyes were large and dark, her body lithe but powerful... and Leia couldn't help but notice that the scanty, barely-there outfit she was wearing accentuated her curves and lengthy legs off to perfection. Oh, she was *definately* not going to like this woman.  
  
The other was a tall, brooding male with a handsome figure and an astoundingly beautiful face. He was thin almost to the point of being Han- like lanky, dark hair fell to a curl at his shoulders, his prominent cheekbones were set high in his pale face, and thick, black lashes framed the deepest, darkest brown eyes Leia had ever seen. But what was so perculiar about this striking figure was that the man had wings.  
  
"Yeah, Deacon's an Angol," Han hissed at her with a glare, seeing where her gaze lingered, "And he hates people staring."  
  
Leia nodded in understanding numbly, but it was truly impossible to take her eyes off the arched, sweeping, truly beautiful wings that grew from the shoulderblades of Angols. Not many of the native people of the planet Angolone ever ventured off-world, and though more and more were becoming adventureous and leaving their homeworlds to become pilots and the such, not many people ever got to see an Angol in the flesh. The wings were amazing, the powerful limbs stretching up past Deacon's dark head, curving in on themselves ever so slightly. The huge, majestic feathers, silvery- blue in hue, fledged and arched outwards from his shoulders to his his thighs and then came to smooth, tapering ends near the heels of the carpenter's black, shiny boots. They were elegant and streamline - and when flexed outwards to their fullest extent, an Angol's wings could reach spans of ten feet across.  
  
The pair of humans, simply standing there and talking quietly to each other, were amazing. Leia glanced at Luke and noted he had a similar look of awe on his young face as he looked upon the two, seemingly ethereal, creatures, and was then snapped harshly back to reality when Han shouted out, "Kahn! Ava! You old scallywags!"  
  
The pair whirled as their friend's familiar, too long unheard and yet completely unforgettable, voice drifted over to them, and the faces which Leia and Luke percieved to be haughty and dignified, too noble and stately too indulge in such a thing, lit up like Kestmarr tree lights. Two identical huge, wild and annoyingly white and perfect grins spread simultaneously across each of their faces and they both flew towards Han - not literally of course, though Deacon could've done, had he so wished.  
  
Avatella Etan reached the pilot first and leapt upon him, wrapping her long, shapely legs around his narrow waist and flinging her arms around his head, proceded to bury her face in the nape of his neck. Deacon Kahn brought up a very close second, and was just as enthusiastic about seeing his best friend again - wrapping his arms around Han's shoulders and embracing him in a bone-crushing hug, which Solo returned as best he could. Then the most breath-taking thing happened: on pure instinct, Deacon's wings opened and curled in on themselves, wrapping the three friends in an almost protective shield, covering them completely. Chewbacca chuckled when he noticed for the first time that Luke's mouth was actually hanging wide open, totally amazed by the whole sequence of events.  
  
Ava and Kahn, realising Chewie was present for the first time at his unmistakeable chuckle, shifted their attentions onto him as Deacon's wings folded back to their resting place. The four friends hadn't seen each other in years upon years - the fact that they all were great, great friends was immediately evident to Leia, not just by the zealous meeting, but by the easy manner they all acted with each other, and the joy that danced in all their eyes. For instants, Avatella, still clinging onto Han with one arm and both legs, was scratching the fur of Chewie's chest with fervor, her mouth moving at a parsec a nanosecond as she talked with Han; and Deacon, now with one arm slung firmly around Han's neck, was talking to the Wookie excitedly, and with the other hand was laid across Ava's bald head. ~What a strange friendship they all seem to have~ thought Leia as she looked on from the outside with amusement, not failing to notice how unusually happy Han was - she had never actually seen him so genuinely delighted, and it warmed her in some way. He looked like a little kid, and she could not begrudge him this meeting.  
  
Eventually, Deacon's dark eyes flickered to Luke and Leia, and his talking slowed then finally stopped. "And who might you be?" he asked, not rudely... Leia noted unconsciously that his voice wonderfully deep and powerful.  
  
Leia held out her hand, the diplomat in her surfacing once more, and introduced herself, "I'm Leia Organa."  
  
Avatella's grey-rimmed eyes widened dramatically ass Deacon shook Leia's hand, "As in the princess of Alderaan?" she asked in a deeply cultured voice, unwrapping her legs from around Han and staring fully at Leia.  
  
Leia smiled, colouring slightly, "Well, I used to be," she muttered. To take attention off herself, she stepped back and pushed Luke forward, "This is Luke Skywalker of Tatooinne."  
  
"Nice to be meeting you, I'm Deacon Kahn - call me Kahn, and this is Avatella Etan - call her whatever you want; most people do," said Kahn with a wide, winning grin.  
  
"Hey," Ava pouted her large, purple-stained lips and folded her arms sulkily over her chest. "That 'aint either true nor fair." She fixed her eyes on Luke and Leia, and Luke noticed that her dark brown iris' were encircled by a thick ring of grey, "He's just in a mood 'cause I fair ol' whooped his ass at sabaac yesterday," she smiled warmly. Leia found it hard not to start liking her despite herself when the Globod, ignoring Deacon's noises of disbelief, disengaged her arm from around Han's shoulder and said, "Let's not tarry, shall we, my pretties?" And with that she led the small group onwards. Leia had thought Han, especially, would object to being led anywhere by anyone, let alone a woman, but when she looked in his direction, he was just grinning and shaking his head silently. ~Most perculiar~ she thought. But then her mind strayed to Deacon, and she smiled, too.  
  
**********  
  
"Welcome to our humble abode. We hope you will find it... well, not comfortable, 'cause that's highly unlikely; we're not even... but...er... Kest, I dunno, just... Here we are!" Avatella fumbled with her words as she keyed in the admission code to an unremarkable steeleest door, one of hundreds in their quarter's-complex. The door slid open with a *whooosh*, revealing a very small but quite aimiable, little apartment, perfectly- suited to the company's purpose. It was barely furnished - what with floorboards being only half there - but the select amount of furniture it did have was obviously home-made... after all, Deacon was a carpenter. It was almost amusing to Luke to note that, though upturned manga-fruit crates where being used as tables in one corner, an astounding amount of technical equipment was present in the room. Machines, computers, comm-systems, holo- net scapes, holo-vids and some of the most highly-advanced machinery in the galaxy could be found in that one little box-sized room.  
  
"Wow," he said as his eyes took in the computers, all the blinking lights, toggles and switches.  
  
"Yeah, I know... it's a ratchety ol' place - but it's home," Deacon mumbled apologetically as he stretched his wings out partially, groaning slightly in comfort.  
  
"Oh, no," Luke was embarrassed that his comment had been taken that way. He flushed slightly as he looked to the dark-haired Angol, "I-I didn't mean..."  
  
"He knows full well what you mean, kiddo," Han leaned in and spoke in his ear, grinning lopsidedly. "He's just yanking your chain, take no notice of him." And with that, he cuffed Deacon upside the head, and then collapsed onto the couch with a moan, as if that mere action alone had exhausted him.  
  
Avatella grinned, "Yeah, space-lag'll be hittin' ya'll right about now, yeah?" She eyes the four friends and their drooping eyes and slowed movements with amusement. "Ya'll crash now, sleep till well into t'morrow, and then me an' ol' droopy-drawers can hook ye up with a supplier t'morrow night, 'kay?"  
  
"There's no spare bedrooms," Deacon told them, "So, you'll all have to a- slumber in here, just kip wherever... and mind the nails in the floorboards." He grinned and rubbed his hands together, and said sarcastically, "Nice and comfortable for you, ey?"  
  
Chewbacca chuckled, and then groaned, '''No matter how long you've been flying for, space-lag always gets you at some point.'''  
  
"Too right," Han agreed, voice muffled as his arms where crossed over his head, trying to block out any light that hurt his tender, bloodshot eyes. As everyone else began settling down, and Kahn and Ava brought in pillows, beanbags, sleep-bags, blankets, comforters, duvets and then saluted good- night, Han hauled himself to his feet with intent, "I need a brandy," he declared.  
  
Leia rolled her eyes as he slunk into the kitchett, and wondered where she would sleep... the couch was already, obviously taken by the pirate, Chewie had commandeered the only chair in the room - what with him being too big to stretch out on the floor anywhere - his long, furry legs were at thir fullest extent and he was snoring slightly, and Luke had claimed the space just beneath the couch, in between the upturned manga-fruit being used as a kaffee-table and was already asleep. She had just opted for the space that existed between the couch and Chewie's chair - what with the only other available space being over the other side of the room, when Han sidled back in again, hands full with a tankard of Corellian brandy, and a plate of karrtias! She stared, open mouthed at him as he sat himself on the couch and proceeded to tuck in. "I cannot believe you," she stated, astounded that the lithe smuggler's belly could hold so much.  
  
He looked up at her, "What?" he asked, though the question was dulled by the fact his mouth was full. He swallowed with difficulty, but still managed to remain at least slighty dignified, "I told you, Ava's a chef, she's my best mate, she knows what I like - she had a plate waiting for me in the kitchett... what was I supposed to do?" His large, shifting eyes were wide and imploring, and she found it hard not to chuckle at his expression as as she began to lay down on the floor. "What're you doing?" Han asked.  
  
She looked at him, "I'm going to sleep," she said slowly, not understanding what was so difficult to grasp about that.  
  
"Not down there, you're not," Han shook his head, licking his fingers of the spilt juices and grease of his finished karrtias. "Come on, up here."  
  
Leia straightened and looked insulted, "Captain Solo, if you think I am going to sleep on that couch with you, you are very much mistaken!"  
  
Han just looked at her witheringly, "I was planning to sleep on the floor, Your Highnessness," he said, and Leia felt a hot sweep of embarassment flush up her neck and cheeks. "Now, do you want the couch or don't you?"  
  
"Yes... thankyou," Leia said quietly as they shifted positions. She looked at the spacer as he began to settle himself on the floor, the way he avoided looking at her, his carefully guarded facial expressions, and she said, "That was really very nice of you."  
  
She thought she could almost see Han blush ~That's ridiculous! Solo doesn't blush!~ as he answered in a mumble, still not looking at her, "Yeah, well, if I'd known you'd be such a prude about it, I wouldn't have bothered." He looked up, about to lay down flat, and grinned in his typical, lopsided way, his white teeth dazzling, "Night, sweetheart."  
  
"Night, nerfherder," she said with a smile, calling him by the name she most liked to use in arguments - never before had she used it as anything like a term of endearment - her mind too caught up in what had just happened, and all she had discovered so far on this trip, to be nasty to the smuggler. He grinned wider, and lay down fully with a satisfied grunt, leaving Leia to think.  
  
There was a hell of a lot more to Han Solo than he liked people to know about, and it was a mark of how good friends Leia and Luke had gotten to be that he revealed even a little bit of who he truly was to them. She was learning all this new stuff about him, his family, his friends - whom Leia had decided she really liked, however scantily clad they were - his life before she'd met him... his eating habits... and she liked what she found out. Leia could not believe how different the flashes of Han on this trip had been to the infuriating, self-centred, self-confident, spit of a smuggler she usually had the 'pleasure' of dealing with... she did not even attempt to understand the man at all, but she knew that the mystery was either enragingly simple, or enragingly complicated.  
  
It seemed this little stay at Ord Mantell would show a lot more things to her that she had been blinded to before.  
********** TBC  
  
Don't forget to review! 


	5. I'm glad you decided to bring me along w...

********** Leia was woken by the clattering sounds of pots and pans coming from the near-by kitchett. It took a moment or two for her eyes to adjust to the pale sunlight streaming in through the apartment's large bay-window, and she yawned and stretched her small body... actually thankful that she had spent the night upon the surprisingly-comfortable couch instead of on the hard wooden floor as she had originally intended.  
  
She sat up and rubbed at her sleep-ridden eyes with the back of her hand, and looked about. She smiled; on the floor next to the couch was Luke - the young Tatooinnian had curled up into a ball under his thick blanket at some point in the night, one bare arm flung out to the side, and was still slumbering peacefully. Chewie had his long legs slung over the arm of the chair he was sleeping in, and was turned away, facing the back of the chair. And Han... the pirate was laid out on the floor flat on his back, one tanned arm curled over his face, shielding his eyes from any light with the crook of his elbow, and the other was resting upon his bare abdomen. The blanket he had been using had slid down during the night, and Leia could just see his narrow hips jutting out above the waistband of his trousers. She let out a breath - of appreciation, was it? - as she gazed upon the muscles of his tanned stomach and chest, shoulders and neck... but she also couldn't help but notice that the smuggler was covered with scars. Most unusual scars covered almost every inch of the man's flesh, from the periodical marks that marred his shoulders and licked over up his neck and around to his chest, to the jagged, torn-looking puckered line that drew a diagonal across the flat space between his hips, to the little dints and punctures running along the strong veins in the tops of his arms. ~How the Kest did he get all those?~ Leia wondered, but wasn't sure if she'd like to find out.  
  
In any case, she got up, and stumbled towards the source of the noise that had awoken her, determined not to appreciate the view from the couch any furthur. When she entered the kitchett, she saw it was Avatella who had been making the noise, and was in the process of preparing to cook. The part-time chef was dressed only in a short shirt, that looked to be a man's size, but did not swamp her at all, as it would Leia. The princess had thought it to be hard to like and even be unafraid of the forbiddingly tall, leggy, beautiful, dark-skinned bald woman she found herself in company with, and had thought to be destined to hate her, one of the factors in this preconception being how gorgeous the Globod was... but it was not so. Ava was one of the sweetest and kindest human beings Leia had ever had the pleasure of spending any time with - and she had a *wicked* sense of humour. When Ava saw she was there, she rewarded the Alderaanii with a wide, shining grin, genuinely pleased to see her. "Hey! You're up!" she stated needlessly, and began to unearth more pans and contraptions from a cupboard below the magne-wash system. "You want some kaffee?" she asked.  
  
Leia nodded, "Mmmm, please."  
  
"Good, good!"  
  
Leia smiled; Avatella was almost-annoyingly bright and happy in the mornings, and Han had sworn last night to personally rip her lips off if she so much as smiled at him when he woke up. She busied herself getting more stuff out, and Leia looked around the small kitchett with interest. It compact and yet didn't seem over-crowded, Leia found it amusing that almost all the vertical surfaces of the room were decorated with pictures and holo- graphs. She studied them with interest: most were Ava and Deacon, a few were obviously their families, but a lot of people were complete strangers to the princess - she noted that a dark-skinned man with a large moustache was grinning confidently in lots of them, and an almost absurdly-beautiful woman with her blonde hair pulled into long braids featured in a few - but the ones she decided she liked the best were the huge amounts of pictures of Han and Chewie, Kahn and Avatella, but mostly Han.  
  
For instance, there was one with the four of them together, obviously taken on one drunken night, where all were grinning dopely at the cam with their arms around each other's shoulders; another of Han and the dark-skinned man pretending to fight one another, their fists raised but their expressions full of humour; the handsome Deacon standing alone, wings raised, giving the cam a withering look; Ava with her legs wrapped around Solo's neck, sitting on his shoulders, with Kahn standing behind them, frowning good- naturedly; Chewie holding Han and Deacon upside-down by their ankles; Han laughing at something off cam with his arm around the blonde woman, who was smiling but rolling her eyes; a black and white one of Solo in profile, him looking out of a window at nothing with a solemn look upon his brow. In fact, there were more than a few artistically-done, black-and-whites... Ava and Deacon with their their hands placed purposefully upon each other's cheeks, looking into one another's eyes; a rather frightening one of Chewbacca in the midst of roaring; Han with his elbows on the table in front of him and his hands clasped behind his neck, head downturned; an outdoor one of the dark-skinned man with a beer and a cloak, looking wistfully up at the sky above him; and a half-profile of Han with another person - who looked vaguely familiar to Leia - standing shoulder to shoulder with their necks twisted round to face the cam, as if they had been caught in the middle of something. Both had slightly guilty looks upon their faces, and were smiling sheepishly. The smuggler's companion looked to be about fifteen or so, and Han looked nineteen - but it was always hard to tell with the ever-youthful Han Solo.  
  
"Who's this with Han?" Leia asked out loud, intrigued by the familiarity she felt for the mystery figure in the holo.  
  
Ava glanced up, and smiled sadly, as if she hadn't looked upon that particular holo for some time, "Awww, that's Kain, Han's little bro." She hesitated, unsure as to just how much her best friend had told these rebels, "Has he... told you anything of his family?" she asked casually, returning back to her mixing bowl.  
  
Leia nodded, "Yes... he told us how they died, but that was it."  
  
The Globod looked mildly shocked, "Wait... he *told* you? You didn't need to beat it out of him, hold a blaster to his throat or nuffin'?"  
  
"No," Leia frowned, "He told us himself."  
  
"Boy," Ava shook her head in disbelief, "you must've gott'n a hold on him, then, girl... me and Kahn only know the whole story because we went through it with him - we've been friends since we were all toddlin' 'bout in our vesties on Corellia, yeah?" She grinned, but then sobered again quickly, stopping her stirring as her dark, grey-rimmed eyes took on a distant look, "Kain was a good-hearted soul... like his bro. Damn shame what happened - I liked the kid..."  
  
Leia was completely intrigued... "Han just told us he got addicted to glitterstim and the such, and accidentally overdosed... is there more to it?" She wasn't being nosy; it was just that if she was ever going to understand the man under all that swagger and bravado, she needed to know what had made him that way.  
  
Ava frowned at her batter, "He did overdose... but no one knows whether it were an accident..." At Leia's shocked gasp, Avatella looked up and explained, "He and Han were all each other had, 'n not mine nor Deacon's family could help 'em, so they were living rough on the streets of Corellia - and them's hard streets, Leia... there was never no money, no food, no way out. But they never begged; they were too proud to beg... so they stole and daylighted, had odd-jobs here, there, everywhere. Sum'time delivered messages and bodies for the resident Corellian crime-lords. Sum'time they got paid in cash, other times it was in spice or glitterstim, spiners and makki.  
  
"Han was tough, he... well, he didn't thrive - way of life nearly killed him more than once, for Kest's sake - but he got through okay... he was cut out to do all the stuff they had to do to survive, y'know? He could and would go that extra parsec, especially for his little bro... But Kain... Kain couldn't do any... he just couldn't - and it got too much for him." She sighed, "Han was the one to find him... the stupid son of a nerf still had the damned needle in his arm," she stopped, the pain of having lost such a dear friend resurfacing suddenly. "It broke Han's heart... and, y'know, I don't think he's ever really recovered."  
  
Leia nodded, thinking back to how hard it was for Han to talk about his younger brother on the Falcon... much more than his other family members. "How old was Kain... when it happened?"  
  
Ava fixed her with a look, but Leia couldn't decifer what it was, though she knew it wasn't anger, "Fifteen, the kid was just fifteen year old when he died."  
  
The princess sighed, upset by the thought that stuff such as that was happening all over the galaxy - and even more since the Empire took hold, "And how old was Han, nineteen?" she asked, looking back to the picture and saying how old she thought he was.  
  
"Sev'nteen."  
  
Leia's mouth fell open. ~Poor Han~ was all she could think of. Though she had never known her real parents, she had thought of Bail Organa as her true father, and had always felt loved and secure... she'd always been happy at the grand Alderaanii palace. But Han had been beaten when he was a kid, his father had killed his mother, his youngest brother had been executed, he'd killed his father, and then his younger brother - his only lifeline, his one remaining family member - had died... it was enough to knock her breath away. No wonder he was so closed off to everyone sometimes - he kept people at arm's length, perhaps because he thought they'd be taken from him like so many other's had. Luke was the first person who Han had actually get under the miniscule chinks in his armour... though, according to Chewie, a large part of the spacer's heart was still tightly locked away from view, surrounded by layers upon layers of defensive mannerisms, diversionary tactics and that ready, lop-sided grin his face took to so easily.  
  
She snapped back to the present time, but Avatella was already onto another subject - obviously not wishing to dwell all that long on such unhappy memories. She happily chatted away anout nothing at all as she made breakfast, oblivious to the noise she was making, and Leia smiled into her kaffee as she watched her. The beautiful Globod was such a warm character, the princess wondered how she had ever thought to hate her. It was after one particularly loud bang as the chef closed the magne-wash's door, and the high-pitched laughter from the two women, that eventually roused Han's grumpy, croaking voice from the lounge, "I shoulda brought Threepio here instead; he would've made less ear-sore than the two of you together."  
  
Leia glanced through the doorway, in time to see Han haul himself waveringly to his feet, rub his eyes irritably with the heel of his hand, and pad his way to the now-vacated couch she had previously occupied, back popping as he straightened. She watched as he threw himself face down upon the welcome piece of furniture and threw his hands over the arm of the couch facing the kitchett. Something about his topless form, the way his shoulder blades moved or the fact that his hips were so prominent over the top of his low-slung trousers or the sight of the strong line of his narrow back, made Leia blush and feel slightly dizzy. She looked away quickly, only to have her eyes caught immediately by Ava's dark gaze as the Globod raised one ebony eyebrow slyly. Something told Leia that this was merely the beginning of Ava's inquisitve nature on this matter - but she did not know whether that was an altogether bad thing.  
  
To save Leia any more embarrassment, Ava ignored the increasing signs of life from both the kid and Chewie, and called out loudly, "Well, I guess that means you won't be wanting any kaffee from us, then..." She listened for the predictable reaction, her face a picture of amusement, cruelty and sweetness.  
  
Han sprung to life immediately, pushing himself up from the couch with one hand and reaching out blindly with the other, grasping at the air, "No... gimme, you wench... that's a low blow, seperating a man from something he loves." His greeny-gold eyes were half-lidded, his dark hair sticking up in all different directions from his head, and his voice croaked - he was still half-asleep, and if Leia didn't know him any better, she would have called his appearance adorable. But, unfortunately, she did.  
  
Ava handed him an almost-tankard full of kaffee, and laughed as he sat up at once, leaning across it protectively like a freezing man does over a single match. Dark hair fell forward over his eyes as he breathed in the intoxicating aroma of the pretty-addictive beverage.  
  
His best friend rolled her eyes at Leia as she went back to her cooking, and said casually - but loud enough to be heard in the living-room, "Honestly... he's such a drama-queen - the great Jessy-Eunuch herself."  
  
Leia laughed loudly, not thinking the pirate would let anyone get away with calling him such a thing, but Han, sitting cross-legged and hunched over as he was, didn't seem to care - he was in the middle of taking a huge, piping hot gulp of kaffee. She shook her head; Ava was definately something else... as, it seemed, was Han.  
  
**********  
"And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd  
understand...  
And when everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I  
am..." - Iris, Goo Goo Dolls  
**********  
  
"So, what do moisture-farmers *do* exactly?"  
  
Deacon was mildly confused from his place where he crouched, stuffed into a little alcove in the corner of the living room of his apartment. He had managed to cram both himself and his wings into a space smaller than a smuggling-compartment - and that was no mean feat, and he was sort of proud in a sad way. But it had to be done: the Angol was pulling up carpet-guards with vengence as Luke talked at him, telling him about his life and all. Leia and Chewie were also sat in the room, listening with amusement and occaisionally throwing in an odd comment or view. Avatella and Han were in the kitchett, making something to eat, obviously.  
  
"Well," Luke was in full flow, nothing could stop him as he relayed his stories at Deacon's back, waving his hands about as Han did when he got aggitated, "Tatooinne is a planet with two suns, it's very hot and has no natural sources of hydration - moisture-farmers, which I was one of, are payed to drill deep into the planet's core, which is this huge reservoir of water protected by this thick crust. Then we sell the moisture on and that's how we live and make our bread - cool, huh?"  
  
"Very," Deacon answered, and his tone held no sarcasm - he may have the driest sense of humour going about, and be quite stoic and succinct in his manners and behaviour, but he was never rude. Never mind the fact that he was genuinely interested.  
  
Han wandered into the room aimlessly, a bowl full of steaming-hot salk'na in his hands. Salk'na was another one of those gloriously-spicy, Corellian dishes that held at least one bottle of non-descript alcohol within it - it was all meat and thick broth. Ava sure knew how to satisfy him. He sat down beside Chewie on the well-used couch, and began to tuck in.  
  
Leia rolled her eyes at the pilot's gluttony, wondering vagely how he wasn't the size of a bantha with the amount of food he consumed, and looked back at Deacon.... or rather looked back at Deacon's backside.  
  
She honestly couldn't help it, it was just - *there*. ~I should never have been allowed to become a princess~ she thought mischieviously as she tried to keep her eyes averted from the very fine posterior, clad in tight black pants, that was waving about in front of her. As she turned her head, however, her eyes naturally caught with Ava's, who gave her the usual expression of amusement and light scolding. Leia blushed furiously and looked away, her earlier conversation with the Globod over her feelings towards Han still ringing fresh in her ears. She had assured the chef most vehemently that she felt no emotion over the smug pirate, other than exasperation. Ava had grinned widely at that and said, "Well, we'll see..."  
  
The Alderaanii puzzled at that comment - it really bugged her, if not only because she had lighted upon the fact that Avatella was talking from experience.  
  
In order to keep her mind clean and her heart simple, she looked at her boots.  
  
There was a mild argument going on between Han and Chewie - the smuggler wished to meet the contact with whom they'd be trading on his own, and Chewbacca felt exactly the opposite, as usual. ''' My cub, you've still got a price on your head - Jabba wants you dead - it is not safe. What if you are recognised?'''  
  
Han looked up at his best friend, eyes that were now a shade of green wide with disbelief, "Gruesome, have you looked in the mirror lately? You are the definiton of conspicuous, my friend." There was a muted chuckle from the pair of wings sticking out of the alcove to their right, and Luke looked helplessly at Ava, who shook her head and returned her attention back to her bowl of salk'na. Han continued, his deep voice getting all the more louder as his hands gesticulated wildly, "I mean, which is more likely, I get noticed when I'm on my bill, or I get noticed when I'm stood next to an eight-foot walking-carpet, trying not to look like I know him? Your head's not exactly contract free, anyhow. I'm doing this alone - s'no problem, the guy's clean, right, Kahn?"  
  
"Right-o," came Deacon's muffled voice as he edged furthur into his tiny space, "I can't accompany you - got too much woodworking going on, y'know? And Etan's useless - she'll be blinding you with all the light bouncing off her head without realising."  
  
Ava chuckled at this but otherwise ignored the comment, obviously used to having remarks made by her best friends. Deacon, meanwhile, tried to prise up a particularly awkwardly placed carpet-guard, but to do so he had to switch the hydro-lever into his right hand, and tap it with the hammer using his clumsy left. Consequently he gave his thumb a fair-old wallop.  
  
"*Yeouch!*" he cried, straightening up reflexively and therefore whacking his head off the hard, unyielding surface above it. "Well, *that* was predictable," he commented calmly as he backed out rapidly of the small space, rubbing his head and examining his newly-hued, purple thumb.  
  
Leia stood when she realised what had happened, and knelt down beside him, "Let me see," she said kindly, and took his large hand between her two smaller ones, and began rubbing the hurting area, just on pure instinct. After a moment, she realised what she was doing and her pale cheeks flushed red immediately, and she backed off quickly. But Deacon was just looking at her with gentle amusement, those big, pretty eyes of his melting something inside of the princess, it seemed.  
  
Han watched this quiet moment between the pair of them, emotions that he could not name whirling within him all of a sudden. His hot salk'na sat forgotten in his lap as a small frown took over his handsome features - he was so intent upon his two companions that he never even noticed Avatella's all-knowing, all-seeing, grey-rimmed eyes knowing his thoughts just by looking at him - as she always did. He could *not* give a reason why it disturbed him so much to see his best friend flirting with the hot-mouthed little wench he couldn't seem to get away from - perhaps it was because he knew what the princess was like ~I'm saving him from her~ he justified.  
  
He cleared his throat and stood with intent, placing his bowl down on the manga-fruit kaffee table. "I know how to settle this," he stated loudly with confidence, breaking the mood intentionally. "Her Highnessness can tag along - make sure I don't get into any trouble. There, you happy, fuzzface?"  
  
Chewie thought for a moment, then said calmly, '''I think we should first of all ask the princess herself if she would like to make sure you don't get yourself killed before we decide for her, perhaps, Young Cub?'''  
  
Ava snorted ungainly into her salk'na at Solo's fairly-indignant expression, and Luke hid a smirk behind one well-placed hand. Leia stood herself up regally, and straightened her petite shoulders, "It would be my pleasure," she stated icily, eyes boring holes into the pirate, annoyed that Han had broken whatever had been happening between her and the dashing Angol still sitting on the floor.  
  
She barged past the smuggler, who now had a glare enough to stun a Gundark on his face, and into the kitchett, where she brooded for some time.  
  
**********  
  
"Well, I'm glad you decided to bring me along with you, nerf-face."  
  
The sarcasm held within Leia's words were obvious. She was in the process of allowing Solo to lead her through the pitch-dark, and really quite dangerous streets of Nitsuj Njo - she was not scared, of course not... it was merely that Han knew the way to the particular cantina they were meeting their two contacts in. That was it. Leia *wasn't* getting slightly freaked out by the oppressive darkness closing in all around them, and the loud shouts and screams and pleaings from near and far and the ambiguous stains on the stone pavement didn't intimidate her one iota. Not one little bit.  
  
"Will you hush yourself, woman?!" Han grumbled irritably as he strode along the streets, obviously fine with the horrid enviroment. This annoyed Leia even more. She was about to go off on a rant, releasing some of her pent-up emotions by screaming at the infuriating pirate, when Han said suddenly, "Here we are," and motioned for Leia to follow him through one of the doorways cut into the stone buildings on either side of the narrow alleyway.  
  
They were met with a putrid screen of multi-coloured smoke - the air in the cantina was so foul she almost gagged. It was a dimly-lit little shack, full of shady characters (all who probably had their faces printed on 'wanted' posters across the galaxy) and strumpets. Gambling went on everywhere, and all under the impressive canopy of some. ~I imagine Solo is familiar with such locations~ Leia thought catily, and yet knew it was just her mood getting the better of her. She glanced at Han, but he was too busy squinting into the fog, trying to find their contacts.  
  
A motion near one of the far corners caught their eyes; two people were calling them over. They went to the table, and sat down opposite the strangers at once.  
  
Leia studied the two quickly: one was a youth, fresh-faced and wide-eyed, with dark-blue hair and eyes. A Kinta, she realised, recognising the slanted-oval eyes and white skin. The other was a typical Corellian and older than his companion, his face lined with age and emotion, his star- tanned face blank. He had a kind look in his dark-gold eyes, but a guarded air that all Corellians seemed to have about him, as though he had cloaked himself in mistrust after seeing one too many unwanted things.  
  
The elder stranger thrust out his large hand and smiled welcomingly, "Kal Purno, you're the guys with Kahn and Etan?"  
  
Han took the offerred hand and shook it politely, a smile crossing his face, but a look of something odd flashing quickly through his large eyes that Leia could not quite catch. "That's us - Han Solo and Leilia Chill." They had decided not to use Leia's real name for obvious reasons, but Han's stubborn nature made him adamant that his name would not go 'a-changing', regardless of the price on his head. Han's gaze wandered over instinctively to the thin lad, who still hadn't introduced himself and just sat silently watching, and he held his hand out to him also in greeting, indicating that the Kinta should talk.  
  
The boy shook it at once, as if realising he was being rude, saying with a pleasant voice, "Yannilro Tellu - Yann for short, yeah?" Han grinned lopsidedly at the youth, seeming to take a shine to him naturally for some reason Leia could not imagine. And then they got down to business.  
  
After Leia had shaken hands too, and drinks had been gotten and thirsts quenched - and Han was getting more comfortable with these people, conceeding to trust them for now, though there was still something about something he didn't like - and small talk had been run into the ground, the real question remaining was the transaction of goods.  
  
"Well, I can get my partner to bring our ship round and we'll load the supplies on her ourself if you just show us where to go," Han drawled, stretching out his long, boot-clad legs lazily, leaving the offer open- ended.  
  
But the elder Corellian shook his head regretfully, "Naw, we got a whole load of stuff in the locker where we're keeping your stuff - and I'm not saying you're untrustworthy or anything like that, but... you know..." he trailed off awkwardly trying to hint, and seemed rather relieved when Leia, quick when it came to most other people's feelings, nodded in understanding.  
  
"Of course, but if we could just *see* the supplies - see what's what and everything - we can arrange another meeting for tomorrow, if you like, and you can help," she added brightly, trying to smooth over the small confrontation.  
  
Kal smiled quickly, "Fair doo's. I'll show you both now, if you're wanting?" At their nods, he pulled his dark jacket onto his broad shoulders, swigged the last of his drink, and straightening, said, "Follow me, then."  
  
Something stopped Leia from carrying out this move at once, something strange, and she glanced at Han to see whether he had felt whatever the Kest it was. But the smuggler just shrugged and widened his eyes at her as if he had no idea what she was thinking, and followed the other Corellian. But Leia couldn't help but notice how a dark sense of forboding crept furthur in slightly at the corners of her mind, and how Solo's hand tightened unconsciously around the butt if his blaster anyway.  
  
**********  
  
Reviews are most welcome - I want to know whether *anyone* is still reading this! 


	6. I've got a bad feeling about this

A/N: Aha! We're getting to the good stuff.  
  
Now, I know this is a bit of a pain, but can those of you still with me review at the end of this chapter? Tell me what you think, let me know about what you like/disliked, or ideas for what's to come... Cheers to Caro, and don't think I'm ungreatful or anything, but anyone else still there? I *think* Artemisa's here somewhere... *squints into distance* Hmmm - hopefully this will get you fired up to review... I don;t mean to be mean to be needy or anything but, regarding reviews and all, I really am!  
  
**********  
  
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Leia muttered to her tall companion for about the eighteenth time in two minutes. Solo had been doing a pretty good job up to then of ignoring her, and keeping his greeny eyes trained on the backs of Kal and Yann they were following.  
  
This time, however, his resolve broke, "You have a bad feeling about everything! Look," he whirled suddenly and glared down at her fiercly, "what's your Rebellion gonna think if we meet up with them all on Hoth with no kel'hall'nn supplies just 'cause you got a little jumpy when we were picking them up? Those poor bas'ekin'ills will be stuck on that Kest- forsaken iceball with no provisions if we balls this up... do you want that, 'cause I know I don't!"  
  
Leia was slightly stunned, both by the language the rough-edged pirate used, but also the passion in his words, and she couldn't think of any way to reply to him. No matter how many times Solo said he was only in the 'whole Alliance thing' just for the money they paid him, he nearly always did or said something that directly conradicted his general attitude on the matter. So she bit her tongue down on the retort that sprang to her lips, and contented herself with scowling into the night, because she knew deep down he was right. It didn't even occur to her that Solo was as on edge as herself, and that he was a lot more practised in such things than she - he sensed something too.  
  
After a short walk, they came to the lockers of Nitsuj Njo. Every good spaceport had these lockers - they were perfect for when crimelords had bodies to store temporarily, or if smugglers knew they'd still be alive at the end of a job and stashed their deposit-cash there, stockers did business from the lockers, and some bums used them as their houses. They were incredibly cheap to rent and ranged greatly in size, and just as long as the money was paid to the owner on time, the lockers could be locked up permenantly and no one would be able to get at whatever was inside, because of the security and near-unbreakable steel-crete doors - who knew what were behind some of them, the dark ones that had been locked up for as long as anybody could remember.  
  
Kal and Yann halted in front of one of the bigger lockers at the end of a row, and Leia and Han turned politely away as the elder stranger typed in the code, not seeing the anticipating look that passed between the Corellian and the Kinta.  
  
The huge doors slid open, and they saw that a small office had been constructed inside the locker's huge expanse. It was really only a desk and a filing cabinet, surrounded by pre-fab walls with large windows that looked out upon the rows and rows of shelving that housed hundreds of boxes of supplies and goods. The doors slid shut, and the locks slammed shut. Han, ever perceptive, clicked this together with the strange sense of danger he had, and whirled at once, hand already holding his blaster, as if the weapon had jumped into his hand of it's own accord. His face was met with the metal pipe that was swung at him, and he staggered, nose broken yet again.  
  
As blackness began to seep into his vision, he caught sight of the princess motionless on the floor with the kid, Yann, standing over her. His eyes dragged, as if in slow motion, across to meet the dark ones of the Correllian who was staring at him. A smile flashed across Kal's face as the blackness overcame Han finally, and he crumpled to the floor, senseless.  
  
*********  
"I let somebody get under my skin..." Long Distance, Turin Brakes  
*********  
  
Leia's first thoughts were that someone were stabbing her in the side of her head repeatedly. She frowned, tried to move, then groaned and almost lost consciousness once more. After another moment she tried to bring her hand up to her forehead, but found she could not do so. The Alderaanii opened her dark eyes the smallest of fractions, and peered out at the unusually-bright world through her thick lashes. Her gaze suddenly met with that vivid dark-blue one of the young Kinta's, staring at her, and she snapped her eyes open immediately, ignoring the screaming pain in the corner of her mind. She realised she was tied to the chair in the small, flimsy office, bound by the wrists and ankles. Her head whipped up again.  
  
"What the Kest are you doing?!" she positively bellowed with rage, her fury so full of force that Yann stepped back involuntarily, as if she were going to strike him.  
  
He returned to his senses quickly enough, and returned to his former spot sheepishly. She noticed, despite herself, that he was very beautiful in an androgynous way, like most Kintas. His brilliant, dark-blue eyes were encircled by a wad of thick, black lashes, which threw a striking contrast against his utterly-white skin, the colour of his lips and floppy-long hair matched his eyes naturally. He shrugged, thin shoulders bobbing, "Is no-a me, lady - this is Kal's gig... sumfin' needed to be a-sorting, I think," he said in an awkwardly standard-speaking voice; it obviously wasn't his born-tongue. He dipped his blue head in indication through the window ahead of her.  
  
Leia looked to where he gestured and gasped; she saw that Han was manacled to something that looked frighteningly like a scan-grid... and yet it was not so, there were no electrical torture devices upon the thing he was resting on, thank the lords. In fact, the only reason it looked like a scan- grid at all, Leia thought again, was the angle the pirate was placed at, leaning away from the floor, but still upright. He was still unconscious, and with his top having been removed along with his boots and all his weapons, Leia saw the dried path of blood from his broken nose paint a river down his strong chest. Kal was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"What are you going to do to us?" she asked, looking back at the boy guarding her, fearful not only for her own life, but Han's as well for some reason.  
  
Yann shrugged again, and his head dropped to face the floor, "We is not a- doing anyfin' to you, lady... and it's *Kal* who's a-doing revenge on Captain Solo." The Kinta seemed to want to stress the fact that it was the Corellian and not himself who wanted them held there.  
  
"Revenge for what?" Leia asked, her mind racing through the small number of details the smuggler had told her or Luke about his life before meeting them - there were not that many of them, and she had absolutely no idea about his dealings otherwise. Once again, it struck her oddly how little she knew about the enigma they called Solo... Kest, she'd only found out the other day that his name was really Han-Jaim.  
  
This was the point when Kal Purno made a reappearance. He looked no different from when Leia and Han had met him in the cantina, he was not suddenly evil-looking and physically-menacing; his dark-golden eyes were still kind, and his star-tanned face naturally pleasant and appealing. He looked at Leia, and a flash of regret seemed to pass across his face, "I'm sorry, Leilia," he said. "Solo was meant to come alone, is all."  
  
"Why was he meant to come alone?" Leia pressed, eager for knowledge - hoping she might figure a way from the hints and clues she might be given to get her and the smuggler out of there. "What are you going to do with him? Why him?"  
  
Kal looked at her silently for a second, then said simply, his deep voice quiet, "He killed my father." Leia felt as though she had been zapped with a nerf-prod. ~Han killed Kal's father?~ she repeated in her mind. Her shock must have shown on her face because the older Corellian nodded and continued, "I don't know why he did it, or what the story was behind it - my dad was a regular-runner for this old Corellian crimelord, and there was a big meeting this one time, and Solo barged in and blasted 'em all, even those few good men, waiting about at the sides to have an order shouted at them." He looked down, "My younger sisters grew up without a dad because of him... and my family needs revenge."  
  
There were many unspoken rules and beliefs that all Corellians upheld, and no one from another world could possibly figure out all of them... revenge, however, was a *very* big thing on Corellia, so much so that many of the higher-class families of that planet had age-old feuds between others of the figure-head forefathers. And between the lower-class, they didn't even have to be that designed nor clear... one thing was crystal, though, no matter what class you were in: if someone slighted your family, you had full right to do the same to them. The law did not work on Corellia, with the crimelords and forefathers ruling segments of the planet indesputably, but even if it it had, the law would have recognised the act of vengeance - Corellians were the proudest race in the galaxy, a largely-known fact, and it did not do well to slight them in any way at all.  
  
~And so Kal is taking revenge... he truly believes this is right~ Leia thought frantically. "Wait!" she cried as the Corellian began to move past her into the stock-room where Han was strapped to the board. "He was only seeking to kill his own father! That was all he set out to do, he did not mean for the good smugglers to get killed!" Leia was willing to do anything to get her and Han out of this situation unharmed.  
  
"Kill his own father?" Kal looked slightly appalled by the idea, and stood motionless for a time, as if thinking about it. Then shook himself visibly out of his thoughts, "Either way, my dad got caught in the line of fire - and I can never forgive Solo for that, nor let him free of my revenge. I'm going to hand him over to this bounty-hunter who's got his beady-eye on him when I'm through... for some reason or other this... I think he's named, Odin'alro, wants him alive."  
  
"So that means you can't kill him!" Leia cried, and a dizzy hope swelled suddenly in her chest. Maybe they could get out of this, yet.  
  
Kal nodded, "Yeah, but that means I have to get him as close to death as physically possible, without actually killing him outright, which is worxe in my eyes... Don't get me wrong," he added, seeing the look on the princess' face, "any other circumstance, and I'd just blast him like he did with my father - but we need the cash, is all." And with that, he turned and left the tiny office, and walked into the room which held the waiting, unconscious Solo.  
  
Leia turned her dark eyes towards the young Kinta, who studiously avoided her look. His skin flushed ashen and he took a great intrest in his long, tapering hands which had eight digits on them a piece all of a sudden. She decided quickly that he was a lost cause for now, and looked desperately through the window, watching with wide eyes as Kal walk slowly up to Han. From where she was tied to the chair, she could see and hear everything that went on in the storage-room perfectly.  
  
Kal reached the unconscious pirate, and just stood for a time looking at Solo. The man before him, who was now at his complete mercy, had murdered his father, was the reason why Kait and Erin had lost their childhood - and yet, Kal's heart wished him not to do anything to the smuggler. Through all his deep-rooted Corellian beliefs, something was telling him not to go through with the impending torture, and after that not to give Han to Odin'alro, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. It went against everything he had been brought up with, and he was sure that if Solo was awake to the world and knew Kal's reasoning behind what was going to happen to him, he would agree. And so, with this thought, Kal sighed, and began to take his revenge.  
  
********** Review! (If you'd be so kind?) 


	7. I'll tell them all you said something re...

A/N: Deepest apologies to all for not updating for quite some time... I got distracted and had a minor writer's-block... but it's here now! Cheers to everyone who I didn't know was reading this and kindly reviewed with the last chapter.  
  
And to wltdnfaded: thankyou so very much for your review... and I have taken into acount what you said, there will be a definate increase in Han- feelings for the rest of the story. Apologies that there haven't been that many up to now, but I love Han, and when I read stories, I like it when someone else is thinking about the main person, or if it is from the other person's point of view or whatever - either way, it was very selfish of me to think only of how I would like to read this fic... I have definately tweaked my writing, now, though!  
  
Enjoy then, don;t forget to review!  
  
**********  
  
Han was jerked back into awareness by a curt punch to his jaw, it made his eyes swim with stars for a moment and he had to shake his head to get rid of them - this also served to worsen the head-ache that was beginning to form behind his eyes. It took another moment for him to collect his thoughts more clearly about him and realise that he was strapped to some unyielding surface at an almost vertical angle, and that he could barely move an inch. Han frowned at this odd feeling and opened his eyes properly, searching for some clue as to why he was in such a position, to try and find some reason he was in such a situation; he couldn't really remember all that clearly what had happened that made him get here, the only thing he knew for certain was that his nose was broken... again.  
  
Solo found his answer standing right in front of him when he opened his eyes: Kal Purno.  
  
The elder Corellian was just looking at him, his expression unreadable. "You're awake," he stated with no inflection in his tone.  
  
"No kidding," Han muttered, glaring darkly at Kal. His mind suddenly lit upon something he hadn't previously thought of, and it scared him no end for some reason. "Where's Lei... lia?" he asked dangerously, stumbling over the false name in his anxiousness. He couldn't see much from his position - but the fact that he couldn't see her at all made something twist uncomfortably inside of him. "I swear to Kest, Purno, if you've laid so much as one finger on her I'll rip your nipples off." Han's viciousness surprised both men - he hadn't realised he cared that much about Leia... ~Don't mean I like her, though~ Han reminded himself suddenly.  
  
Kal held out two large hands placatingly, "Relax, the lady's safe... Yann's watching her... it's you I want."  
  
"Why?" Han frowned - he was unaware of any grudge or death wish with any Corellians of Kal's particular age-bracket held against him... but, having said that, Han managed to piss off a large majority of people without really meaning to - it was a gift. And he never really counted how many people and bounty hunters he should try to avoid at all costs... nevertheless, he was puzzled by what reason the elder Corellian had to break his nose and knock both him and the princess out.  
  
"Ek jev'i'ko kenk'all, Solo," Kal said softly, slipping into their own tongue. 'I need revenge, Solo.'  
  
Han's greeny-gold eyes narrowed and, deadly serious, he asked, "What for?" He knew vengence was something not to be taken lightly - a serious matter on all fronts. He may not have visisted his home planet for quite some years, but some traditions had been kept for millenias... the revenge issue was just one of many. One that he knew a little too well.  
  
Kal stared at him for a moment or so before he answered, voice still quiet and toneless, "Kej bash'kyll eki vek'ra." 'You killed my father.'  
  
Solo felt the bottom fall out of his stomach - he certainly knew his mouth had fallen open - and he stuttered a couple of times before finally managing to ask, "W-when?"  
  
The stocker shrugged, gaze shifting away from Solo, "I think you were killing your *own* father at the time - you took out a whole load of crimelords and all those in the room with your father... my dad was one of them."  
  
Han couldn't think, his mind was racing through the long-remembered actions he had recklessly taken that day, long ago. Had Kal's father been the one with deep red curls standing near the vat of brandy? The dark eyed one leaning against the door with his hand casually laid upon his blaster? The fairly young one with the typically Corellian colouring? He'd killed them all. He had murdered needlessly many innocent people that day, and he'd killed innocent people since then - this was a thought that had haunted him since - he'd killed innocent people whilst he himself was seeking vengeance for the needless deaths of his mother and younger brother at the hands of his da. His father had killed innocent people.  
  
A horrifying question struck through his mind like a blaster bolt: was *he* like his da? He was of the same blood after all... perhaps he'd been given more than just his father's looks and name through that same blood...  
  
Jaim Seth Solo had on occaision murdered people for money, something Han- Jaim had all too much experience with already for his relatiely young years; Jaim had killed members of his own family, Han had done so also, whether intentionally with his father or through (as he himself believed) neglect with Kain... in fact, all the things Han did: lie, gamble, pocrastinate, womanise, smuggle, kill, cheat, drink... his da had done before him. The thought of him treading the same path as the man he hated more than anything else in all the worlds abhorred Han till he felt sick, and the only thing he could find solace in, find some way to differ from his father, was that he had never, *ever* hit a woman in all his life... or a child for that matter, something that Jaim Seth Solo had done steadily throughout all of Han's childhood, and most probably before that as well.  
  
Kal watched on as the thoughts Han was feeling visibly flashed across his face for all to see - this surprised the elder Corellian; he had heard that Solo was virtually unreadable, a completely guarded individual whom no one could crack, especially if he didn't want them to. But looking at him, Kal could see plainly the surges of guilt, horror, disgust, sadness, anger and disbelief that ran and shivered through the smuggler's handsome features... Kal's heart almost went out to the kid, because - for all his hard-man act and obvious street-toughened experience - Solo really was only a young man, a kid who had had to age quickly to even begin to compete and survive in the circumstances and enviroment he was born into. This was a strange thought, and not one Kal would have been likely to have had, had not Han's face, for just a second, looked like a young boy accused of something he knew he had done, but had not realised the consequences.  
  
Han pulled himself together quickly however, and the familiar veil of protectiveness shrouded his feelings typically once more. He looked up and faced Kal, managing not to flinch as he did so. "I understand," he said, voice firm - and he did, he knew what Kal had to do; he'd done it himself in his past, more than once.  
  
Kal nodded, heart still rebelling inside of him - the fact that Solo was fully accepting what was going to happen to him made the whole situation seem a lot worse somehow. The only thing Kal was relieved about was that he would not be beating Solo to within an inch of his life - he wouldn't torture him in the conventional method... he really rather wished he didn't have to torture the smuggler at all, and could just blast him through the head, but the bounty hunter, Odin'alro, was only willing to pay for a breathing Solo, but on the other hand was quite willing to let Purno do whatever he wanted to with him, just as long as the mercenary was still drawing breath when he was handed over. And so, Kal's only option was to torture Han... the bounty hunter would probably kill him later on anyways, or whoever had taken out the bounty on the smuggler's dark head.  
  
So, it was with a sigh that he turned to one of the shelves, and picked up a large syringe. As the older Corellian was preparing the instrument, Han eyed it darkly... he had hated needles with a flaming passion ever since he was seventeen years old... but whatever Kal had to do, he had to do - Han believed he deserved anything the stocker threw at him. His greeny-gold gaze swept across his restricted line of vision, and something ached inside of him.  
  
"Hey," he called softly, Kal turned to him, a dark brow raised. "Do you reckon I could have the little lady in here for a minute?" there was a foreign pleading note in his tone that his voice was not used to. But Han reckoned this to be the last time he'd have any connection with his friends, with his only family, for some time... possibly indefinately - whatever the Kest was in that syringe sure weren't meant for no joyful trip. He wanted someone to tell Avatella, Deacon, Chewie and Luke how he had died, what had happened... sure, Leia wouldn't have been his natural first-choice, but she was all he was left with.  
  
Kal looked as though he were summing something up in his mind before he nodded and averted his gaze, setting down the syringe and making his way to the small, pre-fab office in the corner. Leilia looked up sharply as he entered, deep brown eyes once more ablaze - Kal noted with a bit of amusement that Yann's brilliant, shocking-blue eyes were huge with barely- surpressed terror and his skin was flushed a light blue in fear instead of it's natural, unblemished white. The petite woman looked like she could pack a punch or two.  
  
"Solo wants to be talking with you," he said simply, avoiding her sharp gaze.  
  
Leia's heart jumped - the tone Kal used was frightening, it seemed blank and without any emotion. She leapt up at once when her bonds were cut, but the Corellian caught her sharply by the arm, and then proceeded to lead her into the warehouse. Han was still tied to the flat table, leaning back from the floor. He looked up as much as he could when she entered, and Leia was a little shocked at the expression of defeat on his handsome face - he had obviously reacted badly to Kal's mildly-devastating information, but she hadn't expected that at all. She was so used to the flippant, arrogant, self-centred, half-cretin she usually dealt with - she hadn't expected him to feel all that guilty... at least, not as much as he was obviously feeling.  
  
"Hey," he said, careful not to call her 'princess' in front of Purno. He swallowed, and then said, "So... it looks like I'll be sticking around here for a while - I reckon you'll be let go soon," with this, Han shot a glare at Kal, who just nodded his agreement - he had no grudge against Leilia. "So, if you could just let Chewie know that the Falcon's his... "  
  
Leia nearly gasped, "No, Han... I'm not going to do that for you... in fact, *tell him yourself*!" This last command was spoken with amusement and her typically-scolding voice, masking her true feelings.  
  
Han just grinned lop-sidedly and shook his dark head as much as he could, "Naw... you do it. And the kid... well - " Han couldn't say anything else, he didn't know what to say that wouldn't make him sound like a nostalgic moron in front of Leia... *not* that he would have done anyway - that's just not the guy he was... He cleared his throat uncomfortably, and came out with his default winning smile. "Tell 'em all I said something clever," he smirked.  
  
Leia laughed despite herself and rolled her deep brown eyes, "I told you before that I wouldn't ever lie for you, I'm standing by that now. I'll tell the truth... I'll tell them all you said something real dumb."  
  
"That'd be right," Han's smile faded slowly, as did Leia's, and he suddenly thought she had never looked more attractive than she did at that moment - a frown marred her perfect brows, and her huge brown eyes shone with anxiousness... anxiousness for him. The princess was anxious for him? He didn't understand, but he couldn't drag his eyes away from those looking so searchingly into his own.  
  
Leia felt electricity rippling through her as Han's stare deepened, multi- hued iris' shifting in colour before her very eyes. Her heart was pounding heavily and painfully against her ribcage with the realisation that she might not see the smuggler again... that she might lose him. This futher confused the area of her mind that was already befuddled with every action the handsome pirate executed, and the feeling mixed with Ava's raised eyebrows and Leia's own secret amusement at the Corellian's antics. She did not know what made her do it, but she swiftly reached up and placed a soft, brief kiss upon the pilot's worn cheek, it was only really pressing her lips for less than a second against his cheekbone, but it thrust her into a world of maybe's and perplexing notions that she could not for the life of her begin to unravel. Her dark head immediately angled downwards as she broke away, trying in vain to hide her flushed cheeks.  
  
Han's large eyes widened even further at this simple action but, unusually sensitive to the princess' obvious embarrassment for some reason, he only acknowledged the brave act by a nod of his head, and a small half-smile that fled from his face as soon as it had appeared.  
  
Kal watched the two together, and his heart rebelled once again about what he was going to have to do - Solo was obviously well loved by a multitude of people, even if the smuggler himself did not know it. But the elder Corellian couldn't afford to let his mind dwell upon the unpleasant parts of what he must do, he just had to do it, there were no two ways about it. So he let Yann pull the Leilia away from the pilot's side, and tried his best to ignore the looks exchanged between the two. It was only when he was sure that Leilia was in the office and tied once more to the chair in the pre-fab office that he took up the syringe again.  
  
The smuggler's wide eyes bored almost completely through him, as though Solo was capable of seeing the thoughts imprinted on his soul... Kal shook himself, that was impossible ~You're being ridiculous~ he scolded himself silently.  
  
"She *will* be let go, won't she, Kal?" asked Han, his voice as soft as it ever became. This was of the uttmost importance to him, though he didn't know why... he didn't care if he were tortured or not, as long as the princess got out of it okay. He felt as though it was his fault, he had dragged her to meet the contacts all because he wanted to put a little distance between her and Deacon.  
  
Kal nodded, "Yeah, we'll let her go before the bounty hunter gets here; knowing your friends she's probably got a price on her head and all." Han found it very hard to hold his tongue just then, only just managing to keep the grin from his face ~If only Kal knew~ But the elder Corellian didn't seem to notice and just continued, " -but we can't have her going too early and returning with a surplus of blasters, can we? So, we'll time it or something."  
  
Han nodded, "Seems decent. And... what's the deal with this... needle, then?" The sight of the instrument made him feel very nervous, he had bad memories of them.  
  
"Well, I did a little research on you when I discovered it had been you who had killed my dad," Kal noticed that Han winced slightly when he said the last part. "And, you seem to have been captured, and tortured, and plied for information, and used as demonstrations, quite a fair bit in your life already."  
  
"Yeah," Han sighed hugely with mock-melancholy, "I seem to be a magnet for guys with grudges."  
  
"Uh-huh, and in most of these incidents, heavy physical violence has been used: nerf-prodders, metal bats and poles, electro-whips, fists and boots, branding irons - you name it, and you've had it applied to you."  
  
"Well, I don't like to brag about it..." Han grinned.  
  
Kal snorted and shook his head, "Yeah, well, there are two reasons I'm using this needle instead of beating you into a pulp with a shelving-slat: one is that I reckon you've been mashed so many times that your hides pretty thick, and it won't mean all that much to you anyway if you get *another* beating, and two is that I don't like hurting people, all I'm wanting is my grudge to be paid, but to do that and get some extra cash I have to get you as close to death as possible without nudging you over. In this syringe I've got Kem'apizin, which I'm sure you've heard of; it's the base of most known drugs - mix it with however much of whatever else and you'll get vastly varied results, but on it's own, it will render you in the deepest, most untouchable unconsciousness you can get without kicking the garbage chute. It slows the heart right down, makes sure you barely even breathe, and puts a sort of... death-hold on the brain, only you know what's going on. It'll be like you're dreaming, except not, you get me?"  
  
Han swallowed, and tried to force a smile, "Loud and clear... and how long will the deep-sleep last for?" His heart was pumping about a katchillion times faster than normal, he reckoned.  
  
"Until something else gets into your bloodstream that will pull you out of it. Kem'apizin reacts with any other chemical in the galaxy, so if you get a shot of something - I reckon this Odin'alro character'll need to bring you out of the unconsciousness to collect his bounty - then it'll just feel like you're on some sort of drug. Depends on the secondary drug as to what sorta trip you'll have."  
  
"Magical," Han muttered gloomily. He hadn't touched any drugs at all for years, since he was seventeen, and didn't appreciate being forced to start now.  
  
Kal moved closer, syringe in hand, chamber filled with concentrated Kem'apizin, and gave the smuggler an apologetic look. His heart was almost burning through his own chest: he'd never done anything like this before, he had a family, kids, a business, an apprentice... he didn't like what had to be done at all. "Look, I am sorry, Solo, but you know how it is."  
  
Han would have waved away this apology had he been able to move his arms, "Forget about it, I know why you're doing it, and it's fair enough - just as long as you get Leilia out of the way as soon as you can, got it?" He fixed his fairly-intimidating glare upon the stocker, as if daring him to go back on his words, but Purno managed to hold his gaze.  
  
"Got it," Kal finally smiled and nodded. He moved forward, coming into contact with the pirate. Han seemed to have calmed completely, as though he wasn't afraid any longer of what was going to happen to him. He did, however, visibly steel himself as Kal slid the needle swiftly through the tanned skin where his neck met his shoulders, directly into the main vein. The stocker drew some blood into the chamber before pushing the plunger down fully, and forcing the chemical into Solo's bloodstream. The drug would take less than a second to get to Solo's brain - Corellians, with their fast metabolism, had enlarged blood vessels like veins and arteries, and standard-litres more blood. In order to cope with the extra strain, their hearts were huge, Corellian hearts were a lot larger than any normal humanoids' (filling up about a third of their chest cavities) and the vast muscles were incredibly strong, pumping the blood around their barely-ever still bodies faster than any other races'. This was one of the net of reasons why a large portion of drug-users in the galaxy were Corellians: they got the best highs, they could experience things that other races couldn't, all down to the huge, beating hearts they had. Han was a Corellian, that's why his eyes rolled back at once and his head fell with a thump onto his chest.  
  
And from that point on he was dead to the worlds until someone released him.  
  
********** Please review, what do you think? 


	8. I don't want that man hurt

A/N: Thankyou all very much for reading and reviewing. Sorry this took a fair bit of time but I lost my disk with all my stories on it, including this almost-finished chapter. I seriously had to rewrite this whole thing. Humph... nevermind, I just hope you like it and are still with me! Cheers to all those reviewers who I hadn;t even known were there, who let me know how they felt with the last chapter, you've no idea how chuffed I get when people review! Two that I simply HAVE to reply to, though-  
  
wltdnfaded: LOL, we're so polite, the pair of us. But seriously, I'm finding it an interesting challenge to write from Han's POV, and I think it does enhance the fic. Of course, now there won't be much where I *can* write about his feelings... lol...  
  
Sigil: Thankyou, that was really nice. But I'm afraid I've written to warn you (though you've probably guessed), three days is not a long time to me... I think I update every couple of weeks. Sorry, but I'm a relaxed writer who gets distracted by LOTR fics far too much! Also, my ability to get *onto* the internet varies widely! So, apologies but please be patient!  
  
Anyway, hope you like, let me know.  
  
**********  
  
The only thing that had kept Leia occupied for all the hours in which she had been tied to the chair, through the night in fact, in the stupidly flimsy, pre-fab office was her surprisingly-amusing past time of glaring darkly at the young Kinta charged with watching her.  
  
Her anxiousness was still with her, a hard lump in the back of her throat, and the jolt in her heart everytime she dragged her eyes away from Yann and saw that Han's dark head hadn't even moved a nanocent from it's place on his bare chest the whole time she'd been there. The fact that he was so very still worried her greatly, but she did not think about how much it worried her... because that worried her too. They were so completely isolated from anything, even in a busy space port like Nitsuj Njo - that was the exact designs of the lockers they were being held in. Even if they could escape before that bounty hunter was brought back, they were still quite some distance away from Deacon and Ava's apartment. It was useless, and made her even more anxious just thinking about it.  
  
So instead she contented herself with making the fidgety youth opposite her vastly uncomfortable with her smouldering gaze. She felt triumph flare within her with every light-blue flush of colour in his white cheeks, and every awkward glance in her direction. Yannilro was really rather scared of her... and so he should be. Her anger was enough to stun a banther. Kal had been gone for a while, now, he reckoned it was about time to be meeting with the bounty hunter on the other side of the planet, and would be gone for a fair bit. No doubt Yann would be counting down the nanoes till his return.  
  
A thought suddenly occurred to the princess, and her dark eyes softened, no longer attempting to burn holes through the Kinta's brilliant blue head. "Yann?" she called aloud, slightly amused when he jumped, startled when she spoke for the first time in a few hours. He fingered his blaster nervously, but still looked to her. She continued, "I would never ask you to do this under normal circumstances, but I really am desperate."  
  
The beautiful youth's interest seemed to be prodded by this statement, and he asked, a little warily, "What is you a-wanting?"  
  
But Leia was far too clever for that, and decided to build up her case before asking directly. "Listen, you see that man in there?" she jerked her head in Han's direction. She went on as Yann nodded slowly, unsure as to what she was getting at, "That man has been through more things than you'll ever know... more things than *I'll* ever know... now, I don't know what this bounty hunter is wanting with Solo, and I don't care, but I'll bet you anything that it won't be pretty. I *know* Han killed Kal's father when he was younger, and I know how much revenge means to Corellians... but I also know that I don't want to see that pirate put through any more hurt while I'm with him. And if you hand him over to this Odin'alro, he'll definately be hurt." She paused, seeing her words beginning to work on the Kinta, his vivid blue eyes darted to Han's still form and back again. "Do you understand?" she asked, hoping against hope that he did.  
  
Yann looked at her, and his thoughtful expression seemed to soften, "I do, lady." Leia's heart leapt, but came crashing down to the hollow in her chest when he then shook his dark-blue head and continued, "But as I is a- saying, is a-no my gig... can'no be helped by me." At her pleading look, he just shifted awkwardly and shook his head even more firmly, "Is a-no up to me... I can'no betray Kal, y'know?"  
  
"Why?" Leia was intrigued despite herself and Han's current situation. She wanted to know why this kid felt so attatched to the elder Corellian... and if there was anyway she could top it with a bribe of some sort. There had to be something more to it than Yann just being Kal's work-apprentice.  
  
"He pulled me from burning speeder and a-saved me life - my best friend a- crashed us... she died." He looked down, obviously fairly painful memories coming back to recent memory again. "Only reason I a-live today, y'know... is him. Do sum'fin goods for him 'cause of it, yeah?"  
  
Leia nodded in understanding, but her heart was not calmed; she still hadn't gotten them out of the impending danger. Well, she hadn't gotten Solo out of the danger coming her way... she was not in trouble at all - he was the only one Odin'alro knew about. So why did she feel so desperate to get him out of there? ~I must be going soft~ was her only explanation. She didn't see the thoughtful look that passed across the Kinta's fair face as she pondered her bemusing feelings.  
  
The comm-system called, and she jumped at the ring tone. Yann got to his feet and, still training the blaster on her, went across and clicked it on. "Yanni?" came Kal's distinctively Corellian voice, crackling a little as static distorted the connection.  
  
"Is here, Kal," Yann answered normally but his slanted, brilliant-blue eyes flashed back and forth between Leia and Han for some reason the princess couldn't imagine.  
  
"Good, now I'm on the other side of the planet - this Odin'alro.... *crsshhhh*"  
  
"Kal?" asked Yann, frowning as the static cut off his friend.  
  
"Sorry, Yanni... wave's bad. This Odina'alro fella's gonna be landing in a time-part or so... *cshhcrr* -want you to let Leilia go at dawn, kay? First time-part- *crrchsshh* -goes free, got it? That should be about when I'll be getting back with- *crc* -hunter... catch my drift?"  
  
"Yuh-huh, got it," the Kinta's almond-shaped eyes were now completely fixed on Leia, as if thinking. He suddenly grinned widely, white teeth flashing in the gloom of the dark locker. "Bye," he said to the comm and clicked off without waiting for a further acknowledgement. He then strode across to Leia and immediately began untying the bonds from around her wrists, ankles and waist, not looking at her.  
  
"What are you doing, Yann?" she asked softly, not wanting to gamble her freedom over her stupid and needless curiosity. She almost held her breath again, feeling the moment fragile enough to shatter if she so much as shifted in her seat.  
  
The youth looked at her, and something she couldn't figure out flickered in his large, oval eyes, and he halted in freeing her left wrist for a second. "Kal said to release you," he said simply with a shrug of his slim shoulders, all the time watching her face as if for an argument.  
  
"But..." Leia began, but then the credit dropped. Yann was using the static across the comm connection as an excuse to free her now, possibly even give her time to get help for Han. That way he was not betraying Kal so much as... 'mishearing' him. A sly smile spread itself across her pretty face as her dark eyes twinkled with gratitude, and she nodded in understanding once more. The Kinta returned her grin shyly, then promptly blushed sky-blue again, cleared his throat, and busied himself with untying her fully.  
  
That done, she got to her slightly-numb feet and the two beings stood simply watching each other for a second, then Leia made to step towards the young Kinta and embrace him in thanks, but he flinched a little and stepped back, so she merely dropped her arms and, keeping the comfortable distance between, stretched out a hand very diplomatically. He shook it with a nod and a larger grin. "The door's always a-open," he said cryptically, but Leia knew instantly what he meant.  
  
The grinned even wider at him then, no bounds on her surprised joy at that moment, and casting one last look at Solo, deathly still where he hung against his bonds in the supply-room, she left the locker and made her way, as fast as she could, to Ava and Deacon's apartment. She prayed to all the gods, whether her's or not, that she would be able to prevent something awful happening.  
  
**********  
"You're so bitter, I don't get it... why you try so hard to hate me..." -Why You Try So Hard To Hate Me?, The Electric Soft Parade (A/N: Best band  
in the world, seriously...)  
**********  
  
Something or other woke Luke from his deep sleep - he couldn't figure out what it was, just that something didn't feel right. He wondered what it could be, and thought about this for quite some time, but then gave up and tried to get back to sleep again. It took him another moment or so to realise something was bothering him, more than just his feelings. A light was on, it was the kitchett light - right in his line of vision; he was on the floor of the living-room again. He pulled himself to his feet, intending to go and switch it off. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, and carefully avoiding the sleeping Wookiee who was stretched completely out on Han's sofa, he walked into the tiny kitchett, but found Deacon standing there, clad in sleep-pants and top, with a mug of hot kaffee in his hand, looking out the port-hole window above the magne-washer into the night. He turned about when Luke entered, and greeted him pleasantly, seeming to be glad he wasn't alone, "Hey."  
  
"Hullo," Luke said, stifling another yawn and flattening his hair down onto his head so it wasn't an example of anti-gravity, "what're you doing up and about at this time in the..." he checked his watch, "morning?"  
  
Deacon shrugged, making his huge wings bob, and looked into the blackness of his kaffee. "Cannae sleep," he muttered then, smiling, raised his mug, "So I thought I'd give my body a good ol' excuse, heh?"  
  
Luke chuckled, folding his arms across his chest, "Good an excuse as any, wish I'd thought of it." He paused for a second before going on in a soft voice, "You think they're okay?"  
  
The Angol looked up sharply at that, then his expression softened as he held his dark gaze on Luke's, "Man, I hope so... it's not just me, then?"  
  
Luke shook his head, "No, I reckon they should've been back by now as well." A silent moment passed between the two men, their anxiousness beginning to get the better of them, something neither was used to, something neither of them liked. Luke just had this feeling he couldn't shift, this uneasiness about his heart, and he suspected Deacon felt the same.  
  
"Don't get me wrong," the taller human said after a moment, pale face plain as he looked to Luke again, "Han can definately look after himself, and Leia seems..." he stopped, trying to think of the right word, dark eyes raised to the ceiling as if he would find the word written on there "...*capable*, but... I don't know - I got a bad feeling about this."  
  
Luke tried not to smile at the similarity between Han and Deacon, but it was something he just couldn't help noticing. Both had this reckless spirit about them, both were more than a little pessimistic, and yet both cared a bit more than they liked to admit. He was about to ponder this notion further when suddenly there was a loud thumping on the door to the apartment. Kahn spared a glance at Luke, who just shrugged, then the Angol put down his kaffee and hurried to see who seemed to be trying to break his door down. Avatella emerged sleepily from one of the rooms as he passed, pulling a nightshirt up onto one slim shoulder, "The kest?" was all she could manage to say.  
  
'''I am unsure,''' replied Chewbacca, sitting up on the sagging couch and reaching for his blaster instinctively.  
  
Kahn keyed in the code to open the door, and when it *whooshed* open, a bedraggled and bruised Leia was all they found in it's wake. For a moment, no one said anything - it all seemed so surreal and hard to define - and they all just stood, motionless, staring at Leia. Then Ava gasped and rushed forward, taking her companion by the arm and leading her gently to the couch Chewie had just vacated. Leia was thankful for the motherly actions conducted towards her - she believed she'd found a true friend in Avatella Etan.  
  
"Whatever is it, hon?" asked the Globod, her voice warm and soothing but the urgency clear. Her grey-rimmed dark eyes sought the still-open door, but she did not find what she wanted, "And where's Han?"  
  
Leia looked at her, but then just shook her head, dark curls which had untangled themselves from the ornate bindings at the nape of her neck falling forward into her eyes, "I really don't know how to explain this to you- " she began.  
  
"Well try, would ya!" Deacon cried in aggitation, stepping forward. He felt so helpless, and he *needed* to know what was going on, he needed to know what had happened to his best friend. His stomach twisted at the thought of Han in danger, the young smuggler had been through enough, and if Deacon could stop anymore curveballs being thrown his way, he would do anything. The princess looked up at him, startled by the swift anger in his deep brown eyes. He seemed to realise his rudeness had caused mild offense, and mumbled apologetically, but still kept his intense glare upon her face. She sighed, knowing the importance of what she needed to tell them. "Han is being held in one of the Nitsuj Njo main lockers, there is this Corellian who holds a grudge against him and is handing him over to this bounty hunter. Solo's unconscious, and will likely remain so until we can get to him. But we have to go now." And with that, she stood with intent.  
  
Luke was blown away, but he didn't have time to think about it - they had to get to Han. The group began pulling together all their stuff, getting dressed and retrieving their strewn weapons, so Luke grabbed his lightsabre. He was vaguely aware of Ava asking who the bounty hunter was as she pulled on some shorts and her big black boots, and Leia answering, but a loud noise from his right made him look up. Chewie had dropped his cross- bow, and was now exchanging glances with Kahn. Ava had a hand in front of her mouth, her eyes fixed on Leia. "What?" asked Luke.  
  
"You sure it was Odin'alro?" asked Ava in a hushed sort of voice.  
  
"Yeah," said Leia, obviously confused. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Odin'alro Ewol just happens to be the meanest bastard in the whole of the known galaxy," said Deacon, his face suddenly drawn very thin. "We have to go now," he widened his eyes and whirled, storming through the doorway. Ava followed him immediately, not caring that her boots were untied and the tongues slipped forward. Leia's heart began to thump harder as she looked to Luke, who merely gazed back at her, and they followed Han's two friends without further question.  
  
**********  
  
Yanni thought both his hearts might have stopped beating when he heard something at the open door behind him. Either it was Kal and the bounty hunter coming back - in which he would be questioned about having the door open, or it was Leilia returning with Solo's allies - in which he would be betraying the man who saved his life. He whirled, blaster immediately aimed at the door.  
  
Leilia walked in through the doorway, hands palm up in front of her and her large eyes honest. He sighed and lowered his weapon, even permitted a small smile to flash over his features, but immediately snapped the blaster back up when another figure appeared where the small woman had been, and then another, and another...  
  
"Yanni, relax - these are friends," Leilia said calmly, her voice soothing the young Kinta. Her eyes danced to where Solo still hung, and her relief was evident that he was still there, that they hadn't lost him. She strode onto the stocking room floor, and walked up to the pirate. Ava and Kahn joined her whilst Chewie kept Yann entertained.  
  
"Shit," was all Deacon had to say on the matter, his eyes looking black in the dawn light streaming in from the still-open door were full of anxiousness for his best friend. He immediately started to undo the manacles from around Han's wrists, when something stopped him. He straightened at once and his eyes narrowed.  
  
'What?' Ava, seeing his characteristic suspicion, mouthed. He only held up a hand. His eyes then narrowed and he flapped his wings to get Luke and Chewie's attention. They looked up to see him waving an arm at them urgency, motioning for them to come into the stock room. They did so, without question, and only just in time, for the door was swung open, and in walked Kal Purno, being shadowed by an intimidating figure, cloaked in darkness.  
  
**********  
  
Please review! It's a mini-cliff, btw, I haven't left it unfinished! 


	9. Thankyou

A/N: Hello to you all, and thankyou very much to those who reviewed. I'm so sorry I haven't managed to post for ages, stupid history coursework, revision etc etc. I'm sure you don't really want to know but, anyway, it's here now!  
  
Caro: That's very dedicated of you, thanks for being so appreciative.  
  
A. Windsor: I love Yanni too! He's sweet in an 'Aww, bless' sort of way, isn't he?  
  
Anyway, things a bit tense now, eh? Please don't forget to review, you have no idea what they mean to me! Should I even continue with this story at all? Tell me!  
  
**********  
  
"Well, here we are," the group in the stock-room heard Kal say, obviously talking to the figure who flanked him, his voice was tight and anxious - he was having second thoughts about this whole bounty hunter thing. They shifted behind the shelves so they were able to see better and assess the situation.  
  
They watched as the shadowed figure pulled off his cloak and wrapped it round the back of the chair Leia had previously occupied, revealing himself. A square jaw-line kept in coordination with the razor-sharp features of his face. He was obviously a U'Jen - the spots of colour, matching the iris', tatooed beneath each eye making it immediately clear that he was of the race of the planet U'Jenis. Not much was known of this people, except for the markings they all bore from two and a half days old, when a sacred ceremony was performed as the three moons were at their highest in the sky, and the spots were tatooed. A vicious, puckered burn adorned the underneath of his jaw, where it met his neck. And a large scar slashed down and across his full mouth at a diagonal, almost as though his mouth had been torn apart. His eyes were a turquoise colour and his hair dirty blonde - he would have been handsome had it not been for the meaness of his features and the danger zinging in the air about him.  
  
The group hidden behind the larger shelves at the front of the stocking floor shrank back as one as the bright, hard eyes drifted across in their direction - they all held their breaths, but thankfully the eyes swept on by, fixing on Han's inert form. Then, the bounty hunter smiled, the slash across his mouth spreading sickly when the being grinned. "This is him then, eh?" he asked, voice not as deep as Han's or Kahn's, but sharper, more clean-cut. "*The* Han-Jaim Solo?" Both Avatella and Deacon winced slightly as the bounty hunter made their friend's full name sound more like an insult - something foul-tasting, to be spat out - a horrid, mocking tone to his voice.  
  
"Aye, that's him," said Kal, looking at the stranger warily, unsure as to how to handle such a potentially dangerous person. He tried to ease his shoulders into a more natural position: he had been holding them tight and hunched. "W-what are you gonna do, like? You want him whole, don't you? I mean, that's what you said when we set up, have you changed your mind?"  
  
"You would do well," said the U'Jen, raising his voice threateningly and silencing the Corellian immediately, "To hold your tongue, and not persist in asking me endless questions, eh?"  
  
Kal merely nodded, and moved to stand in front of Yannilro a little. "All I'm wanting is the money, and then you can do with the smuggler what you want," his voice faltered a little, but rang true in the large stocking room.  
  
"Thankyou," Odin'alro answered sarcastically - as though he really would have waited for the stocker's consent - not taking his eyes from Solo's form. He reached into one of the many pockets of the large jacket he was wearing, and withdrew a thick wad of credits. Kal's dark eyes widened noticeably as they caught on this bundle, bound together with nerf-leather - Luke doubted either he or the Corellian had ever seen so much money. The bounty hunter threw this was carelessly over his shoulder, not even looking to see where it landed, so Purno had to scramble to catch it.  
  
Having done this, the fair-headed U'Jen, started to walk slowly towards the unconscious Corellian, "So *this* is the great Han-Jaim Solo - *this* is the man who once was hung up by his feet and beaten with shipping-pipes for hours at a time? The man able to keep conscious and sane after being flogged with un-resisted, full-grade electro-whips just to demonstrate their power to an audience? The man tales tell is virtually impossible to keep captive, to silence, to kill; the man who has survived slavery at least six times in his life - even escaping the Kessel Mines with his mind and pride virtually intact.... *This* weak specimen of a man is supposedly the fastest, most skilled pilot this galaxy has ever witnessed, the sharpest, most deadly shot about... *this* is supposedly the most dangerous Corellian - possibly even human - seen for over five millenias? *THIS* is the Gundark of a man who's very name strikes fear into more than a few hearts - the man I have heard the most unbelievable tales about, the man *I* even thought to admire?!"  
  
Odin'alro's voice had been rising steadily as his rant went on and on. Ava had to almost physically hold Deacon back from lunging at the dangerous bounty hunter as he spoke of their best friend with such disrespect, such disgust, and Chewie shifted furiously where he stood. "And the great Han- Jaim Solo, reigned in and leashed, by a mere drug? A chemical?" With this, Ewol looked back to Kal and Yann, as though expecting them to agree whole- heartedly with him and laugh at Solo, but they stood silent, eyes wide. So the U'Jen dropped his head, heaving a sigh, "You would not believe some of the tales I have heard about this man before me..." he waved a hand vaguely at Solo's still form, "Impossible yarns that surely to the gods he should not be capable of doing." A wide yet sickening grin took over his features then, and his turquoise eyes gave out a gleaming light, "And *I* am the one to bring him in." Odin'alro's already considerable reputation in the galaxy would most definately double, possibly even triple, when word got around that he had reaped the bounty upon Han Solo's head - he would be the most notorious, most feared, most highly-paid bounty hunter in all the worlds. He couldn't wait...  
  
"So," he said suddenly, gathering himself together and becoming all business. He strode once more towards the unconscious Corellian, "What I propose is that - if you so permit it, Mr. Purno - I get a little time to rough this 'legendary' smuggler about a bit... purely for my own enjoyment you understand..." and with that, he threw a strong backhand at Han's jaw, snapping his dark head around. Chewbacca very nearly roared with rage, and it took both Ava and Deacon to hold the Wookiee back and Leia's soothing hand upon his vast back to keep him in their hiding place. Odin'alro, however, was unaware of the struggle behind the stock-shelves close by to him, and he continued, having satisfied his sudden impulse, "And I suggest that whilst I'm doing that, *you* get the word about the galaxy that he's on the market - put a Gundark among the Jawas, if you catch my drift- "  
  
"W-wait," Kal's words cut off the U'Jen, he was mildly shocked by the harshness of Ewol - though he really should have expected it from such a bounty hunter. "I thought you'd just be taking him and leaving - that was the deal, right? You'd get your money and everything..."  
  
Odin'alro laughed, "Oh, Kal..." he shook his fair head as if dissapointed. "You don't seem to understand the workings of the bounty hunter/smuggler world, do you? I have here the most sought after bounty in the whole galaxy, possibly the biggest pay-off for all my life... you think I'll just hand him over to the cheap, first-timer, wannabe crime-lord that gets nervous enough to put in the first bid without really nowing the value of what he's getting? No, no, my friend... there's going to be quite a bidding war over dear Mr. Solo here, until I am fully satisfied with the results..."  
  
"But..." said Kal hesitantly, dark eyes flickering from Han to Odin'alro. "I thought... Jabba- "  
  
"Jabba knows barely enough about bounty hunters to deal with them *quite* as much as he does," Odin'alro announced confidently, turning back to eye Han again. "You seem to underestimate Solo - he's got quite a few death marks hanging around his neck... there are plenty associates of mine who would be... *overjoyed* to see him. So why don't you get on and do that, eh?" He suggested in a way that left no room for arguments. Kal looked like he was about to object further, but then though better of it, and turned to the comm on the desk.  
  
Once his back was turned, Odin'alro wasted no time in hurling a fist into the younger Corellian's bare and exposed midrift. A sharp *whoosh* of air escaped the unconscious body, but other than that, Han did not move, still caught in his drug-induced unconsciousness. The spiteful U'Jen then, his blaster leaping into his hand as though with Force-inhanced speed, cracked the butt of the heavy-duty weapon across the pirate's face, spraying blood across the stocking-room floor from the split lip and further broken nose so that Leia, Luke and everyone behind the shelves could see it splatter upon the steel-crete floor. Leia could feel Deacon trembling where he stood, trying to control the indignant fury coursing through his veins just like the Kem'apizin in Solo's. She turned to Luke to try and gain some comfort, only to find his large blue eyes as hard and cold as steel and ice, and she was shocked to find the young Tatooinian looking so angry, so consumed with rage - it was completely out of the ordinary for the usually mild-mannered farmer... but she supposed he had very good reason. None of Han's friends were able to move to aid him as the U'Jen slammed one merciless fist after another into the pirate's body, beating it steadily up over and over. It was only when Odin'alro had picked up a disgarded shelving slat, and beaten Han across the chest with it once it that they all leapt unintentionally from their hiding place, having no clear plan in mind but knowing they could not stand blithely by any further.  
  
Deacon pointed the blaster straight at Odin'alro, the bounty hunter's turquoise eyes wide and amazed at, firstly, that a group of such a size was threatening him, but also that he had not noticed them there before - that they had managed to sneak up on him at all. "Right-ho," said Deacon, voice as hard as stone and deep ebony eyes glinting dangerously, "You've had your fun, now I reckon you can leave."  
  
Unexpectedly, the U'Jen just chuckled, not seeming to be in the least bit frightened by the blaster aimed between his eyes. "I am afraid, mate, that I can't be doing that." His eyes drifted over to where Avatella was busy trying to release the bonds around Solo, "I wouldn't, pet," was all he said.  
  
The bald-headed Globod's temper sparked at that, and she turned round, one brow raised, "Oh? What makes you think I'm gonna take orders from *you*? He's our best friend and, in case you haven't noticed, there's only one of you and five of us, and one of us is a Wookiee."  
  
Odin'alro shrugged, and suddenly a blaster appeared, pointed at Deacon's crotch area. Chewie roared in his outrage. "Perhaps this might sway your decision, love?" Ava immediately dropped her hands and stood still, wishing no damage to come to anyone except, perhaps, Odin'alro's head. The bounty hunter smiled his sarcastic, sickly smile again, ignoring the flames raging in Kahn's eyes as he pushed the U'Jen weapon dangerously (and painfully) forwards. "Good choice... now, we seem to have ourselves in a bit of a predicament here. You," here he indicated Deacon with another nasty jab of the blaster, "you *could* take the risk and try to blast me... but are you truly willing to chance that I just may be a faster trigger than your good self. And let's face it, you have a lot more to lose than I do... I can survive without my frontal lobe - but can you without your balls?"  
  
Deacon almost snarled in answer, but the bounty hunter continued regardless, "I mean," here, he played upon securities of Kahn's childhood, "...could you ever beat Solo at a draw?" He could see the carpenter thinking about this, and grinned again, showing off white, straight teeth. "So, why don't we all just back away and set the blasters aside for a moment or two and see whether we can come to some sort of- " he paused here, "...agreement?"  
  
********** "It's so lonely when you don't even know yourself..." - Knock Me Down, Red  
Hot Chili Peppers  
**********  
  
"Well, I don't know how they got in here... and I don't know how they're gonna get out neither," whispered Kal to Yanni. Having finished putting the word about that Solo was up for a bounty-collection, they were staying well away from the action on their stocking-room floor.  
  
It would be exaggerating to say that Odin'alro and Han's friends had come to a mutual arrangement to not blast one another: everyone was still rather jumpy and you could cut the tension in the air with a vibro-blade. Both parties had backed a little way away from each other, but again, that wasn't saying much seeing as Odin'alro had had a blaster thrust in Deacon's crotch just a moment or so beforehand.  
  
"Look," said Luke, trying his best to diffuse the situation. "We could all quite easily walk away from this - Odin'alro, how 'bout *we* take Han- "  
  
''' -And we let you live,''' injected Chewbacca threateningly.  
  
Odin'alro obviously had a grasp of Wookeese, and he laughed outright. "Nah, I don't reckon that'll be happening... this is a big deal for me. Solo's too valuable for me to just hand over willy-nilly."  
  
Leia came forward then, her voice calm and soothing - in diplomat-role, as her father always used to say. "Look, we can *buy* Solo from you, at a very good price... you won't be cheated."  
  
"I doubt you'll be able to come up with the amount of credits this catch could possibly sell for," Odin'alro said lazily, as though bored of the conversation.  
  
Luke could think of nothing in this situation to be bored or casual about! But then, he reckoned the U'Jen had probably been in many situations like this in his line of work. "Try us," the Tatooinian came back, a hint of a threat in his tone.  
  
"Right-e-o," Ewol grinned again, "I reckon I could probably get Solo to fetch - within the range of... about 6 or 7 million credits..." he let this hideous amount of money trail off tantalizingly.  
  
It took Ava a minute before she realised her mouth was hanging wide open, "No way..." she said, voice hushed. "He's worth all that?"  
  
Odin'alro nodded, "This is the man who's got as many death-sentances across the galaxy as I've had hot dinners... Not to mention the prestigue I'll get for bringing him in; all the new contacts and charters that'll come flooding right in; my reputation would be unmatchable... need I go on?"  
  
Leia felt her heart sink dramatically: there was simply no way they could come up with that amount of money. Even with the Rebellion's finances plugged and Han's own money, they were not even warm. What in the galaxy could Solo possibly have done in his lifetime that would put him in such bad favour and crank him up to such dizzyingly high stakes. ~I probably don't even want to know~ she answered herself succinctly.  
  
Luke, meanwhile, had had an idea. He was concentrating very hard upon the heavy-looking stock box, precariously balanced upon the topmost shelf next to Odin'alro. His sharp eyes caught the slight tremor in the object, and he focused his attentions even more upon it, determined in his efforts, his will making the job a little easier.  
  
"So," Odin'alro was saying, "With all things considered, then, *I'll* be taking Solo - *I'll* let *you* all live, and everyone's happy... except, perhaps Han-Jaim, who'll probably be pimped-out as a court-eunuch, I should imagine..." This casually-disgarded comment ignited already-heated tempers, and many things happened at once.  
  
Deacon and the bounty-hunters both pulled their blasters at the same time, intent upon killing the other; Leia, sensing though some way or other some urgency, had begun to move to release Han from the bonds that held him; Ava screamed; Chewie roared; Luke succeeded in his task. The stock box came crashing down just as Kahn and Ewol pulled the triggers of their blaster, sending both shots wild as it landed upon Odin'alro, crumpling him and sending it's contents streaming out across the steel-crete floor. Both bolts detonated against the wall above the little office at the front of the stocking-room, and Kal and Yanni unintentionally ducked as they exploded above their heads.  
  
Kahn turned, amazed, to Luke, mouth hung wide open and eyes wide. "You have a bit of the Force in your blood, kid?"  
  
Luke nodded, feeling a little foolish all of a sudden. But there was no time for anyone to ponder the phenomenon of Skywalker actually having managed to bend the formerly-elusive Force to his own will: they had to get out of there. Chewbacca moved towards Han's sinking form - Leia had undone the binds that held him upright, but lacked the strength to keep him vertical as the tall, lanky pirate's full, dead weight fell on top of her. The giant Wookiee scooped up his best friend as though the Corellian were a rag-doll, cradling him gently in his massive, furry arms, dwarfing Han. And they made quickly for the exit, through the small office where Kal and Yann stood, waiting for them with the door open.  
  
Kal Purno did not try to stop them, he just let events play out as they were wont. "I'm sorry about all this," he said quietly as the group neared him. "Didn't think it'd come out like this, you know?"  
  
"Don't worry about it, mate," Ava threw him a white-toothed flash of a smile as they ran past them to the still-closed door, where Tellu already stood, keying in the open-code. There really were no hard feelings: the important thiing was that they had Han back without *too* much damage being done to him... it could have been worse.  
  
Then, they were through the doors and into the dawn stree outside, Leia pausing only to grin at Yanni, and kiss him on the cheek. "Thankyou," was all she said, her pretty face thoroughly kind and greatful.  
  
They thought they had gotten away with it, they thought they were finally safe, when they heard the distinctive shot of blaster bolts being unloaded. Leia barely had time to think about anything when Avatella screamed from her place beside the princess and stumbled, and fell forward, toppling to the muddy earth. She had been shot in the leg.  
  
Deacon, seeing his best friend fall, cried out, "Ava!" and moved towards her, caring not for the danger still firing at them from behind. But Chewie was already there, and drew the injured chef to his chest using his free arm, and then lumbered ahead of the group at a full-pelt Wookiee-run, which was certainly a speed to be reckoned with. The carpenter left behind, enraged at the idea of both his friends being hurt, a slab of fury forming at the pit of his chest, whirled to face Odin'alro, who seemed to have survived the encounter with the stock-box, and drew his blaster again, firing without heed of Leia's cries of protest.  
  
There was nothing else Luke could do, so he yelled for Leia to run. At first she hesitated, not wanting to leave her friends in such danger, but when a blaster bolt detonated against a wall next to her, showering her in plaster-crete and other materials, she fled, deep brown eyes wide and frightened.  
  
Luke, on the other hand, felt a wave of courage surge through him and he drew his lightsabre and ignited it, a blue streak of defence, and he swiftly moved in front of Kahn, who was otherwise fully-exposed, and deflected each and every shot that was aimed at the both himself and the carpenter.  
  
Odin'alro Ewol, desperate not to let his prize-catch get away, had dragged himself from his heap beneath the box, and had knocked both Kal and Yannilro unconscious in order for him to be able to recapture Solo. Rage had blinded him, and so his shot had gone atypically wild, and had hit the Globod instead of in the centre of the huge Wookiee's back. Now, though, he was pulling ahead of his previous mistake and was steadily gaining a little more ground with each shot, gradually advancing forward, posing a very big threat to Deacon and Luke, who would pay with their lives for their little stunt.  
  
In the early, pale dawn, and with the flash of blaster bolts making it hard to see, all Kahn and Skywalker could make out was that the distant shape of the bounty hunter was silhouetted suddenly from an explosion of green light begind it, and then the figure fell, smoking, to it's knees. They ran forward immediately.  
  
Kal Purno stood, a smoking Cevlon-blaster in his hand. His golden-brown eyes burned with rage, and he looked up as the pair approached. "No one wallops my lad," was all he said. It seemed Yann had taken a blow at the hand of Odin'alro. Kal then seemed to collect himself once more, and kicked Odin'alro's corpse, as if to check he was really dead. "You'd better make yourself scarce: this piece of ska'l has mates in high places, and every bounty hunter to general thief within a parsec and a half'll be wanting to claim your friend for himself... best you get Solo off-planet as quick as possible."  
  
Luke nodded, then couldn't help himself and reached out to grab the Corellian's hand firmly, "Thanks, you saved our skins... we really appreciate your help."  
  
The stocker looked mildly uncomfortable, and shifted his feet, "Well, it's my fault you were all there in the first place..." He cleared his throat, and looked at them again, nodding his head in the direction Leia had disappeared down, "Now get going, see to your friends..."  
  
Deacon nodded, heart still racing, and began to leave, desperate to get back to his apartment and see to both of his best friends, to make sure they were all right and he wasn't about to lose them. "Thanks again."  
  
"Not a problem, good luck in getting away," Kal threw over his shoulder as he entered his locker once more.  
  
"You too," Luke murmured earnestly as he, too, began to run down the street. "May the Force be with you."  
  
**********  
  
Please, PLEASE review... and have a belting Christmas. AliciA. 


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